Hardware processors and methods for extended microcode patching

ABSTRACT

Hardware processors and methods for extended microcode patching through on-die and off-die secure storage are described. In one embodiment, the additional storage resources used for storing micro-operations are section(s) of a cache that are unused at runtime and/or unused by a configuration of a processor. For example, the additional storage resources may be a section of a cache that is used to store context information from a core when the core is transitioned to a power state that shuts off voltage to the core. Non-limiting examples of such sections are one or more sections for: storage of context information for a transition of a thread to idle or off, storage of context information for a transition of a core for a multiple core processor to idle or off, or storage of coherency information for a transition of a cache coherency circuit (e.g., cache box (CBo)) to idle or off.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present patent application is a continuation application claimingpriority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/932,682 filed Jul. 17,2020, which is a continuation application claiming priority from U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/236,434 filed Dec. 29, 2018, each ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates generally to electronics, and, more specifically,an embodiment of the disclosure relates to extended microcode patchingfor a core of a processor through on-die and off-die secure storage.

BACKGROUND

A processor, or set of processors, executes instructions from aninstruction set, e.g., the instruction set architecture (ISA). Theinstruction set is the part of the computer architecture related toprogramming, and generally includes the native data types, instructions,register architecture, addressing modes, memory architecture, interruptand exception handling, and external input and output (I/O). It shouldbe noted that the term instruction herein may refer to amacro-instruction, e.g., an instruction that is provided to theprocessor for execution.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which likereferences indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a system including a motherboard with a hardwareprocessor according to embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a processor core coupled to a cache according toembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a processor core according to embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system including a read-only memory, a patchmemory, and a cache according to embodiments of the disclosure.

FIGS. 5A-5C illustrate extended patching in a system including aread-only memory, a patch memory, and a cache according to embodimentsof the disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates extended patching in a system including a read-onlymemory, a patch memory, a cache, and a system memory according toembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates extended patching in a system including a patchmemory, a cache, and a system memory according to embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates extended patching in a system including a patchmemory, a cache, and a system memory according to embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates extended patching in a system including a controlregister, a read-only memory, a patch memory, and a cache according toembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flow diagram for extended patching according toembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flow diagram for extended patching according toembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow diagram for extended patching according toembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 13A is a block diagram illustrating a generic vector friendlyinstruction format and class A instruction templates thereof accordingto embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 13B is a block diagram illustrating the generic vector friendlyinstruction format and class B instruction templates thereof accordingto embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 14A is a block diagram illustrating fields for the generic vectorfriendly instruction formats in FIGS. 13A and 13B according toembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 14B is a block diagram illustrating the fields of the specificvector friendly instruction format in FIG. 14A that make up a fullopcode field according to one embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 14C is a block diagram illustrating the fields of the specificvector friendly instruction format in FIG. 14A that make up a registerindex field according to one embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 14D is a block diagram illustrating the fields of the specificvector friendly instruction format in FIG. 14A that make up theaugmentation operation field 1350 according to one embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a register architecture according to oneembodiment of the disclosure

FIG. 16A is a block diagram illustrating both an exemplary in-orderpipeline and an exemplary register renaming, out-of-orderissue/execution pipeline according to embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 16B is a block diagram illustrating both an exemplary embodiment ofan in-order architecture core and an exemplary register renaming,out-of-order issue/execution architecture core to be included in aprocessor according to embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 17A is a block diagram of a single processor core, along with itsconnection to the on-die interconnect network and with its local subsetof the Level 2 (L2) cache, according to embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 17B is an expanded view of part of the processor core in FIG. 17Aaccording to embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a processor that may have more than onecore, may have an integrated memory controller, and may have integratedgraphics according to embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a system in accordance with one embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a more specific exemplary system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 21, shown is a block diagram of a second more specific exemplarysystem in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 22, shown is a block diagram of a system on a chip (SoC) inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram contrasting the use of a software instructionconverter to convert binary instructions in a source instruction set tobinary instructions in a target instruction set according to embodimentsof the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth.However, it is understood that embodiments of the disclosure may bepracticed without these specific details. In other instances, well-knowncircuits, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail inorder not to obscure the understanding of this description.

References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,”“an example embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodiment describedmay include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, butevery embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature,structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anembodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of oneskilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristicin connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed.

A (e.g., hardware) processor (e.g., having one or more cores) mayexecute (e.g., user-level) instructions (e.g., a thread of instructions)to operate on data, for example, to perform arithmetic, logic, or otherfunctions. For example, software may include a plurality of instructions(e.g., macro-instructions) that are provided to a processor (e.g., acore or cores thereof) that then executes (e.g., decodes and executes)the plurality of instructions to perform the corresponding operations.In certain embodiments, a processor includes circuitry (e.g., a decodercircuit) to translate (e.g., decode) an instruction into one or moremicro-operations (μops or micro-ops), for example, with thesemicro-operations directly executed by the hardware. One or moremicro-operations corresponding to an instruction (e.g.,macro-instruction) may be referred to as a microcode flow for thatinstruction. A micro-operation may be referred to as amicro-instruction, for example, a micro-instruction that resulted from aprocessor's decoding of a macro-instruction. In one embodiment, theinstructions are 64 bit and/or 32 bit instructions of an instruction setarchitecture (ISA). In one embodiment, the instructions are (e.g., 64bit and/or 32 bit) instructions of an Intel® instruction setarchitecture (ISA). In certain embodiments, the translation of aninstruction into one or more micro-operations is associated with theinstruction fetch and decode portion of a processor's pipeline.

In certain (e.g., out-of-order) processors, microcode (e.g., comprisingmicro-operations) is stored in a read-only memory (ROM) of theprocessor, for example, with the ROM generally referred to as amicrocode ROM or μROM. Reading of microcode (e.g., reading of one ormore micro-operations) out of a read-only memory is performed by amicrocode sequencer (e.g., microcode sequencer circuit) of theprocessor. In one embodiment, the data (e.g., micro-operations) in theread-only memory is stored there during the manufacturing process, forexample, the data is not modifiable (e.g., when in possession by aconsumer). Thus, in certain embodiments, the non-modifiable nature of aread-only memory storing microcode prevents updates to that microcode.

Certain processors include a patch memory that is used to patch one ormore micro-operations of the read-only memory. For example, where aprocessor is to, for an instruction that is to be executed, source a setof micro-operations for the instruction from the patch memory instead ofthe (e.g., obsolete) set of micro-operations for the instruction storedin the read-only memory. In certain embodiments, the data stored in thepatch memory is modifiable (e.g., when in possession by a consumer).

In certain embodiments, the patch memory is within a microcode sequencercircuit (e.g., within a core of the processor) and thus places apractical limit on the size of the available patch memory. In oneembodiment, the patch memory stores about 512 micro-operations. Incertain embodiments, the read-only memory is within a microcodesequencer circuit and thus places a practical limit on the size of theavailable read-only memory. In one embodiment, the read-only memorystores about 40,000 micro-operations. As one example, multiple criticalfunctionality or security issues that are to be fixed in the field viamicrocode patching (e.g., by patching to different micro-operations,which may be referred to as patch micro-code) may include providing aplurality (e.g., of a size greater than the patch memory) ofmicro-operations, and a fixed storage size (e.g., about 512micro-operations) of patch memory may result in the inability to patchsuch critical issues.

Certain embodiments herein improve the functioning of a processor byextending microcode patching through on-die and off-die (e.g., secure)memory (e.g., storage elements). Certain embodiments herein provideadditional storage resources for storing numerous (e.g., a thousand orthousands) of additional micro-operations, for example, micro-operationsthat are used for patching of critical issues and/or adding innovatingfeatures and capabilities after manufacturing (e.g., after productlaunch). In one embodiment, the additional storage resources used forstoring micro-operations are section(s) of a cache that are unused atruntime and/or unused by a configuration (e.g., environment of use) of aprocessor. For example, the additional storage resources may be asection of a cache that is used to store context information from a corewhen the core is transitioned to a power state that shuts off voltage tothe core. Non-limiting examples of such sections are one or moresections for: storage of context information for a transition of athread (e.g., when a core supports multi-threading) to idle or off,storage of context information for a transition of a core (e.g., for amultiple core processor) to idle or off, or storage of coherencyinformation for a transition of a cache coherency circuit (e.g., cachebox (CBo)) to idle or off. For example, the additional storageresources, of a processor (e.g., core) used in a server configurationthat does not utilize a graphics processor, may be a section of a cachethat was reserved for storing context information for the graphicsthread(s). For example, the additional storage resources, of a processor(e.g., core) that does not implement a virtual machine, may be a sectionof a cache that was reserved for storing context information for avirtual machine (e.g., a virtual machine control structure (VMCS)).Certain embodiments herein provide for (e.g., non-transitory storagefor) enhanced patch code to allow (e.g., secure) use of additionalstorage resources for microcode patching. Examples of a processor havinga core or cores utilizing extended microcode patching are initiallydiscussed below in reference to FIGS. 1-3.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 including a motherboard 102 with ahardware processor 104 according to embodiments of the disclosure.Depicted motherboard 102 includes a processor 104 coupled to hardwareinitialization manager (non-transitory) storage 106 and system memory108 (e.g., dynamic random-access memory (DRAM)). In one embodiment, thehardware initialization manager (non-transitory) storage 106 storeshardware initialization manager firmware (e.g., or software). In oneembodiment, the hardware initialization manager (non-transitory) storage106 stores Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) firmware. In anotherembodiment, the hardware initialization manager (non-transitory) storage106 stores Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware. Incertain embodiments (e.g., triggered by the power-on or reboot of aprocessor), processor 104 executes the hardware initialization managerfirmware (e.g., or software) stored in hardware initialization manager(non-transitory) storage 106 to initialize the processor for operation,for example, to begin executing an operating system (OS) and/orinitialize and test the (e.g., hardware) components of system 100.

Depicted processor 104 is a multicore processor including core circuitry112 having a plurality of cores 110_0 to 110_N, where N is any integer.In another embodiment, processor only includes a single core. Cores110_0 to 110_N may be coupled to each other via interconnect 116 orother electrical coupling. Each core may include the componentsdiscussed herein, for example, as shown in FIG. 2 or 3. Depictedprocessor 104 includes non-core circuitry 114 separate from (e.g.,outside of) the core circuitry 112. Non-core circuitry 114 may includeany combination of shared cache 118 (e.g., static random-access memory(SRAM)) (e.g., a last level cache), memory controller 120 (e.g., tomaintain cache coherency in caches and/or fetch and retrieve data fromsystem memory 108 or other memory), interface 122 (e.g., to provide acoupling to various components that are not part of processor 104), suchas, but not limited to, peripheral devices, mass storage, etc.).

Each core may include its own (e.g., not shared) cache layer inside thatcore, for example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Each core (e.g., andindividual components of that core) and/or other components of system100 may be separately powered, for example, placed into or out of one ofmultiple power states. In certain embodiments, each power state is powerstate according to an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)standard (e.g., the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)Specification Revision 5.0A of Nov. 13, 2013). In certain embodiments,there are core states (c-states) for each core and/or processor (orpackage) states (p-states) for each processor.

Non-limiting examples of p-states are: P0 Performance State where adevice or processor is in this state uses its maximum performancecapability and may consume maximum power, P1 Performance State where theperformance capability of a device or processor is limited below itsmaximum (e.g., via lower voltage and/or frequency than P0) and consumesless than maximum power, up to the Pn Performance State where theperformance capability of a device or processor is at its minimum leveland consumes minimal power while remaining in an active state (e.g.,where state n is a maximum number and is processor or device dependent).In certain embodiments, processors and devices define support for anarbitrary number of performance states (e.g., not to exceed 16).

Non-limiting examples of c-states are: C0 processor core power state(e.g., the operating power state) where while the processor core is anexecuting power state, C1 processor core power state where the processorcore has a hardware latency low enough that the operating software doesnot consider the latency aspect of the state when deciding whether touse it (e.g., aside from putting the processor in a nonexecuting powerstate, this state has no other software-visible effects), C2 processorpower state that offers improved power savings over the C1 state (e.g.,where the worst-case hardware latency for this state is provided via theACPI system firmware and the operating software can use this informationto determine when the C1 state should be used instead of the C2 stateand/or aside from putting the processor core in a non-executing powerstate, this state has no other software-visible effects), C3 processorcore power state that offers improved power savings over the C1 and C2states. (e.g., where the worst-case hardware latency for this state isprovided via the ACPI system firmware and the operating software can usethis information to determine when the C2 state should be used insteadof the C3 state and/or while in the C3 state, the processor's (e.g.,core's) caches maintain state but ignore any snoops. For example, wherethe operating software is responsible for ensuring that the cachesmaintain coherency. Additional states may be defined by manufacturersfor their processors. As one example, a C6 processor core power statemay be used wherein the power (e.g., voltage) to the core is shut off,for example, where entry into the C6 state causes the core state (e.g.,context information for the core and/or threads operating on that core)to be saved (e.g., to a dedicated C6 storage section in shared cache118) before the core is shut off (e.g., core clocks are stopped and/orcore voltage is reduced to zero Volts). As another example, a C7processor core power state may be used that includes the C6 statechanges but also where a last level cache (e.g., shared cache 118) isflushed. In one embodiment, power manager 124 (e.g., circuit) controlsthe power levels of the components of system 100 (e.g., cores), e.g.,according to a power state. In one embodiment, an operating systemexecuting on processor 104 requests the power state changes that areimplemented by power manager 124.

A processor (e.g., each core thereof) may include a microcode sequencer.Certain embodiments herein improve the functioning of a processor byextending microcode patching by a microcode sequencer (e.g., circuit).Turning to FIGS. 2 and 3, examples of cores (e.g., where each core ofcores 110_0 to 110_N of FIG. 1 is an instance of core 200 in FIG. 2 orcore 300 in FIG. 3).

FIG. 2 illustrates a processor core 200 coupled to a cache 236 (e.g., acache external to the core 200) according to embodiments of thedisclosure. In one embodiment, cache 236 includes a dedicated sectionfor storage of context information (e.g., core state, which is differentthan a core power state) from the core 200 when the core is transitioned(e.g., from an active power state) to a power state (e.g., C6 or C7power state) that shuts off voltage to the core, but does not shut downthe cache 236. Certain embodiments herein utilize cache 236 (e.g., acache external to the core 200) to extend microcode patching bymicrocode sequencer 202 (e.g., circuit), Certain embodiments hereinutilize the dedicated (e.g., C6 or C7) section of cache 236 (e.g., acache external to the core 200) to extend microcode patching bymicrocode sequencer 202 (e.g., circuit). Certain embodiments hereinutilize system memory (e.g., system memory 108 in FIG. 1) to furtherextend microcode patching by microcode sequencer 202 (e.g., circuit),for example, by utilizing the system memory to provide further (orback-up) storage for microcode patches for the microcode sequencer 202(e.g., circuit).

Microcode sequencer 202 may include (i) a read-only memory 204 (ROM)therein (e.g., with the ROM generally referred to as a microcode ROM ormicrocode sequencer ROM (MS-ROM or MS-μROM)) 204 and/or (ii) a patchmemory 206 therein (e.g., with the patch memory generally referred to asmicrocode sequencer writable memory or microcode sequencer random accessmemory (MS-RAM or MS-μRAM). In one embodiment, the read-only memory 204of microcode sequencer 202 stores microcode (e.g., comprisingmicro-operations), for example, with the microcode sequencer 202 (e.g.,microcode sequencer circuit) reading one or more micro-operations out ofthe read-only memory 204 in response to a request for those one or moremicro-operations for the instruction (e.g., macro-instruction). In oneembodiment, the micro-operations in the read-only memory 204 are storedthere during the manufacturing process for example, such that the datais not modifiable (e.g., when in possession by a consumer). Thus, incertain embodiments, the non-modifiable nature of a read-only memorystoring microcode prevents updates to that microcode.

Certain processors include a patch memory 206 that is used to patch oneor more micro-operations of the read-only memory 204. For example, wherea processor is to, for an instruction that is to be executed, source aset of micro-operations for the instruction from the patch memory 206instead of the (e.g., obsolete) set of micro-operations for theinstruction stored in the read-only memory 204. In certain embodiments,the data stored in the patch memory 206 is modifiable (e.g., when inpossession by a consumer).

Depicted core 200 includes front end circuit 208, which may be used toperform instruction fetch and to translate (e.g., decode) a fetchedinstruction into one or more micro-operations (pops or micro-ops), forexample, with these micro-operations directly executed by the executioncircuit(s) 228. Front end circuit 208 may include any combination of:fetch circuit 210 to fetch instructions that were requested forexecution (e.g., by software), microcode sequencer 202 (e.g., thatutilizes extended patching as disclosed herein), an instruction cache212 (for example, that stores macro-instructions, e.g., as a backingstore of instruction bytes), a decoded stream buffer 214 (e.g., decodedinstruction cache) (e.g., to provide a stream of micro-operations for aninstruction), and an instruction decoder circuit 216 (e.g., to performdecode operations to decode an instruction into micro-operation(s)). Inone embodiment, the instruction decoder circuit 216 includes a pluralityof instruction inputs and concurrently determines a set of one or moremicro-operations for each instruction. In one embodiment, there are afirst proper subset of the plurality of inputs of decoder circuit 216that decode all instructions up to a certain number of micro-operationsfor each set (e.g., decode all instruction up to having 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7, 8, 9, 10, or any other number of micro-operations) and/or a secondproper subset of the plurality of inputs of decoder circuit 216 thatdecode all instructions up to a different number of micro-operations foreach set (e.g., decode only instructions that have a singlemicro-operation in their set). In certain embodiments, instructionshaving a set of micro-operations greater than a threshold number (e.g.,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or any other number of micro-operations) aresent to the microcode sequencer 202 for it to determine the set ofmicro-operations for each instruction. Front end circuit 208 may includea queue for micro-operations at an output of the front end circuit 208.An instruction may be identified by its opcode, e.g., as discussedbelow. Decoded stream buffer 214 (e.g., decoded instruction cache) mayreceive an instruction (e.g., an opcode for that instruction) from abranch predictor circuit (e.g., branch predictor unit).

In certain embodiments, fetch circuit 210 fetches instructions (e.g.,from memory or instruction cache 212) and feeds them to instructiondecoder circuit 216 to decode them into micro-operations (e.g.,primitives) for execution by the execution circuit(s) 228. In certainembodiments, microcode sequencer 202 interfaces with one or more of thevarious front end components to initiate and handle microcode fetchesfrom wherever the microcode is stored, e.g., when the instructiondecoder circuit 216 does not decode a given instruction. Streamingbuffer 214 may be used to interface with a memory hierarchy to enablethe fetch of instructions that miss in instruction cache 212. In oneembodiment, an instruction is provided to the decoder circuit 216, whichthen causes a search of the decoded stream buffer 214 for the set of oneor more micro-operations for that instruction. Additionally oralternatively, an instruction is provided to the decoder circuit 216,which (for example, when the set of micro-operations for thatinstruction are to exceed a threshold number or when the instruction isan instruction that is to be patched, e.g., with this informationdetermined from a table of the circuitry for the instructions) thencauses the microcode sequencer 202 to search for the set of one or moremicro-operations. After the instruction is translated (e.g., decoded)into its set of one or more micro-operations, it is then sent to theexecution circuit(s) 228 for execution in certain embodiments.

In FIG. 2, an optional out-of-order (OoO) engine 218 (e.g., circuit) iscoupled between front end circuit 208 and execution circuits circuit(s)228 (e.g., execution unit(s)). Out-of-order engine 218 may be used toreceive the micro-operations and prepare them for execution. In oneembodiment, out-of-order engine 218 may include various buffers tore-order micro-operation flow and allocate various resources used forexecution, as well as to provide renaming of logical registers ontostorage locations within various register files such as register file220 and extended register file 226. Register file 220 may includeseparate register files for integer and floating-point operations.Register file 220 may include model specific register(s) 222 and/ormicro patch-match register(s) 224. In one embodiment, model specificregister(s) 222 are used as control registers, for example, to controloperation of a core (e.g., to control operation of the microcodesequencer 202). Extended register file 226 may provide storage forvector data, e.g., 256 or 512 bits per register.

Various resources may be present in execution circuits 228, including,for example, one or more integer, floating point, or single instructionmultiple data (SIMD) execution stacks (e.g., execution units), and/orother specialized hardware. For example, such execution circuits 228 mayinclude one or more arithmetic logic units (ALUs) 230. In certainembodiments, results are provided to retirement circuit 232 (e.g.,reorder buffer (ROB)). In one embodiment, retirement circuit 232includes various arrays and circuitry to receive information associatedwith each instruction that is executed, and this information is thenexamined to determine whether the instruction can be validly retired andthe resultant data committed to the architectural state of theprocessor, e.g., or whether one or more exceptions occurred that preventa proper retirement of the instruction. Retirement circuit 232 mayhandle other operations associated with retirement.

In certain embodiments, the resultant data is saved into cache 234 ofcore 200 (e.g., as level 1 (L1) cache or level 2 (L2) cache) and/or intocache 236 separate from the core (for example, as a cache shared bymultiple cores, e.g., shared L2 or shared level 3 (L3) cache). In oneembodiment, a cache shared by multiple cores is powered separately fromthe cores, e.g., so that a single core may be powered down withoutpowering down the shared cache (e.g., and thus not deleting the datastored in the shared cache).

In certain embodiments, an in-program order core 200 fetchesinstructions and decodes them into micro-operations (micro-ops) to feedthe next pipeline stages with a continuous stream of micro-operationsfrom the (e.g., most likely) path that the program will execute. Incertain embodiments, an out-of-program-order core 200 includes anout-of-order engine 218 that reorders micro-ops to dataflow order sothey can execute as soon as their sources (e.g., input operands) areready and execution resources are available and retirement circuit 232ensures that the results of execution of the micro-ops, including anyexceptions they may have encountered, are visible according to theoriginal program order.

FIG. 3 illustrates a processor core 300 according to embodiments of thedisclosure. In one embodiment, cache 336 includes a dedicated sectionfor storage of context information (e.g., core state, which is differentthan a core power state) from the core 300 (e.g., via port 338) when thecore is transitioned (e.g., from an active power state) to a power state(e.g., C6 or C7 power state) that shuts off voltage to the core, butdoes not shut down the cache 336. In one embodiment, a power manager(e.g., power manager 124 in FIG. 1) provides a power value 340 to coreto set the core into a power level (e.g., to turn on, lower withoutshutting off, and/or shut off power to the core).

Certain embodiments herein utilize cache 336 (e.g., a cache external tothe core 300) to extend microcode patching by microcode sequencer 302(e.g., circuit). Certain embodiments herein utilize the dedicated (e.g.,C6 or C7) section of cache 336 (e.g., a cache external to the core 300)to extend microcode patching by microcode sequencer 302 (e.g., circuit).Certain embodiments herein utilize system memory (e.g., system memory108 in FIG. 1) to further extend microcode patching by microcodesequencer 302 (e.g., circuit), for example, by utilizing the systemmemory to provide further (or back-up) storage for microcode patches forthe microcode sequencer 302 (e.g., circuit).

Microcode sequencer 302 may include (i) a read-only memory 304 (ROM)therein (e.g., with the ROM generally referred to as a microcode ROM ormicrocode sequencer ROM (MS-ROM or MS-μROM)) 304 and/or (ii) a patchmemory 306 therein (e.g., with the patch memory generally referred to asmicrocode sequencer writable memory or microcode sequencer random accessmemory (MS-RAM or MS-μRAM). In one embodiment, the read-only memory 304of microcode sequencer 302 stores microcode (e.g., comprisingmicro-operations), for example, with the microcode sequencer 302 (e.g.,microcode sequencer circuit) reading one or more micro-operations out ofthe read-only memory 304 in response to a request for those one or moremicro-operations for the instruction (e.g., macro-instruction). In oneembodiment, the micro-operations in the read-only memory 304 are storedthere during the manufacturing process, for example, such that the datais not modifiable (e.g., when in possession by a consumer). Thus, incertain embodiments, the non-modifiable nature of a read-only memorystoring microcode prevents updates to that microcode.

Certain processors include a patch memory 306 that is used to patch oneor more micro-operations of the read-only memory 304. For example, wherea processor is to, for an instruction that is to be executed, source aset of micro-operations for the instruction from the patch memory 306instead of the (e.g., obsolete) set of micro-operations for theinstruction stored in the read-only memory 304. In certain embodiments,the data stored in the patch memory 306 is modifiable (e.g., when inpossession by a consumer).

Depicted core 300 includes fetch circuit 310 to fetch instructions thatwere requested for execution (e.g., by software), microcode sequencer302 (e.g., that utilizes extended patching as disclosed herein), adecoded instruction cache 312 (for example, that provides a set ofmicro-operations for an previously decoded instruction), and aninstruction decoder circuit 316 (e.g., to perform decode operations todecode an instruction into micro-operation(s)). In one embodiment, theinstruction decoder circuit 316 includes a plurality of instructioninputs and concurrently determines a set of one or more micro-operationsfor each instruction. In one embodiment, there are a first proper subsetof the plurality of inputs of decoder circuit 316 that decode allinstructions up to a certain number of micro-operations for each set(e.g., decode all instruction up to having 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,or any other number of micro-operations) and/or a second proper subsetof the plurality of inputs of decoder circuit 316 that decode allinstructions up to a different number of micro-operations for each set(e.g., decode only instructions that have a single micro-operation intheir set). In certain embodiments, instructions having a set ofmicro-operations greater than a threshold number (e.g., 3, 3, 4, 5, 6,7, 8, 9, 10, or any other number of micro-operations) are sent to themicrocode sequencer 302 for it to determine the set of micro-operationsfor each instruction. Core 300 may include an instruction decode queue308 (e.g., micro-operation queue) to store micro-operations (e.g., frommicrocode sequencer 302, decoded instruction cache 312, instructiondecoder circuit 316, or any combination thereof) and then input them toexecution circuit(s) 328. An instruction may be identified by itsopcode, e.g., as discussed below.

Fetch circuit 310 may send a fetched instruction to microcode sequencer302 (e.g., via line 342), decoded instruction cache 312 (e.g., via line344), instruction decoder circuit 316, or any combination thereof. Inone embodiment, fetch circuit 310 sends a fetched instruction toinstruction decoder circuit 316, and instruction decoder circuit 316sends that instruction to microcode sequencer 302 (e.g., via line 342)and/or decoded instruction cache 312.

Certain arrows indicate two-way communication (e.g., to and from acomponent), but one-way communication may be used in certainembodiments. Certain arrows indicate one-way communication (e.g., to acomponent), but two-way communication may be used in certainembodiments.

In certain embodiments, fetch circuit 310 fetches instructions (e.g.,from memory or an instruction cache) and feeds them to instructiondecoder circuit 316 to decode them into micro-operations (e.g.,primitives) for execution by the execution circuit(s) 328. In certainembodiments, microcode sequencer 302 interfaces with one or more of thecore components to initiate and handle microcode fetches from whereverthe microcode is stored, e.g., when the instruction decoder circuit 316does not decode a given instruction. In one embodiment, an instructionis provided to the decoder circuit 316, which then causes a search ofthe decoded instruction cache 312 for the set of one or moremicro-operations for that instruction. Additionally or alternatively, aninstruction is provided to the decoder circuit 316, which (for example,when the set of micro-operations for that instruction are to exceed athreshold number or when the instruction is an instruction that is to bepatched, e.g., with this information determined from a table of thecircuitry for the instructions) then causes the microcode sequencer 302to search for the set of one or more micro-operations. After theinstruction is translated (e.g., decoded) into its set of one or moremicro-operations, it is then sent (e.g., via optional instruction decodequeue 308) to the execution circuit(s) 328 for execution in certainembodiments.

Various resources may be present in execution circuits 328, including,for example, one or more integer, floating point, or single instructionmultiple data (SIMD) execution stacks (e.g., execution units), and/orother specialized hardware. For example, such execution circuits 328 mayinclude one or more arithmetic logic units (ALUs). In certainembodiments, results are provided to retirement circuit 332. In oneembodiment, retirement circuit 332 includes various arrays and circuitryto receive information associated with each instruction that isexecuted, and this information is then examined to determine whether theinstruction can be validly retired and the resultant data committed tothe architectural state of the processor, e.g., or whether one or moreexceptions occurred that prevent a proper retirement of the instruction.Retirement circuit 332 may handle other operations associated withretirement.

In certain embodiments, the resultant data is saved into optional cache334 of core 300 (e.g., as level 1 (L1) cache or level 3 (L2) cache)and/or into cache 336 separate from the core (for example, as a cacheshared by multiple cores, e.g., shared L2 or shared level 3 (L3) cache).In one embodiment, cache 336 is powered separately from core 300, e.g.,so that core 300 may be powered down without powering down the cache 336(e.g., and thus not deleting the data stored in the shared cache). Anexample of how a microcode sequencer utilizes certain storage (e.g.,memory and cache) to extend microcode patching.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system 400 including a read-only memory 404, apatch memory 406, and a cache 408 according to embodiments of thedisclosure. In certain embodiments, system 400 utilizes cache 408 toextend microcode patching. In certain embodiments, read-only memory 404(ROM) (e.g., with the ROM generally referred to as a microcode ROM ormicrocode sequencer ROM (MS-ROM or MS-μROM)) 404 and/or (ii) a patchmemory 406 (e.g., with the patch memory generally referred to asmicrocode sequencer writable memory or microcode sequencer random accessmemory (MS-RAM or MS-μRAM) are located within a microcode sequencer 402(e.g., microcode sequencer circuit) and/or are reserved for exclusiveuse (e.g., and/or access) by the microcode sequencer 402. In oneembodiment, microcode sequencer 402 is an instance of microcodesequencer 202 in FIG. 2 or microcode sequencer 302 in FIG. 3. In oneembodiment, the read-only memory 404 of microcode sequencer 402 storesmicrocode (e.g., comprising micro-operations), for example, with themicrocode sequencer 402 (e.g., microcode sequencer circuit) reading oneor more micro-operations out of the read-only memory 404 in response toa request for those one or more micro-operations for an instruction(e.g., macro-instruction), In one embodiment, the micro-operations inthe read-only memory 404 are stored there during the manufacturingprocess, for example, such that the data is not modifiable (e.g., whenin possession by a consumer). Thus, in certain embodiments, thenon-modifiable nature of a read-only memory storing microcode preventsupdates to that microcode. Certain processors include a patch memory 406that is used to patch one or more micro-operations of the read-onlymemory 404. For example, where a processor is to, for an instructionthat is to be executed, source a set of one or more micro-operations forthe instruction from the patch memory 406 instead of the (e.g., nowobsolete) set of micro-operations for the instruction stored in theread-only memory 404. In certain embodiments, the data stored in thepatch memory 406 is modifiable (e.g., when in possession by a consumer).

In certain embodiments, the patch memory 406 is within a microcodesequencer circuit (e.g., within a core of the processor) and thus placesa limit on the size of the available patch memory. In one embodiment,the patch memory 406 stores about 512 micro-operations. In certainembodiments, the read-only memory 404 is within a microcode sequencercircuit and thus places a practical limit on the size of the availableread-only memory. In one embodiment, the read-only memory stores about40,000 micro-operations. As one example, multiple critical functionalityor security issues that are to be fixed in the field via microcodepatching (e.g., by patching to different micro-operations, which may bereferred to as patch micro-code) may include providing a plurality(e.g., of a size greater than the patch memory) of micro-operations, anda fixed storage size (e.g., about 512 micro-operations) of patch memory406 may result in the inability to patch such critical issues.

Certain embodiments herein improve the functioning of system 400 byextending microcode patching through on-die and off-die (e.g., secure)memory (e.g., storage elements). Certain embodiments herein provideadditional storage resources in cache 408 for storing numerous (e.g., athousand or thousands) of additional micro-operations. Cache 408 mayinclude a copy of the micro-operations (e.g., patches) for patch memory406, e.g., to restore the content of volatile patch memory 406 that islost when the power is lowered from it and the cache 408 is non-volatileor does not have its power lowered to a level that causes a loss ofcontent. Certain embodiments herein include storage of extended patchcontent 412 (e.g., patch micro-operations). In one embodiment, microcodesequencer 402 executes code that causes a copy of data from cache 408 topatch memory 406. However, as real-world resources may be limited in asystem 400, such that the solution is not merely to allocate new storagethat is used only for storing extended patch content, certainembodiments herein utilize (e.g., scavenge) section(s) of memory thathave other uses as well. In one embodiment, the storage used forextended patch content (e.g., micro-operations) is not user accessible,e.g., for security purposes.

Certain embodiments herein leverage on-die secure storage in cache(e.g., in C6 SRAM) for extended patch content (e.g., micro-operations).A first mode of extended patching (e.g., a “ghost” patch embodiment)uses a section of cache (e.g., in C6 SRAM) that is not used in runtime,idle time, and/or off time for a core. A second mode of extendedpatching (e.g., a “super-ghost” patch embodiment) uses a section ofcache (e.g., in C6 SRAM) that is not used in runtime for a core (e.g.,storage that is used to store context information from the core when thecore is transitioned to a power state that shuts off voltage to thecore) (e.g., thread 0, thread 1, to thread N in C6 SRAM) and may also bestored (e.g., encrypted with integrity) in external storage (e.g., DRAM)(e.g., system memory 108 in FIG. 1). The micro-operations of theextended patch content may be called ghost micro-operations as they arenot located in the patch memory (e.g., MS-RAM) but in cache (e.g., C6SRAM) or in system memory (e.g., DRAM). A third mode of extendedpatching (e.g., an “uber-ghost” patch embodiment) allows for the dynamicselection (e.g., via a control register) of a proper subset of enhancedpatch components of the first mode or the second mode of extendedpatching, e.g., depending on the platform configuration and/or workloadrequirements. In certain embodiments, the third mode of extendedpatching allows a user to dynamically select specific pieces ofperformance-sensitive functionality at runtime from a unified, extendedmicrocode patch with first mode or second mode components depending onthe platform configuration and/or workload requirements.

Certain embodiments of microcode patching are extended by storing a(e.g., small) microcode routine (e.g., code including a set ofmicro-operations, which may be referred to as enhanced patch code) inpatch memory that, when executed, causes one or more of the patchmicro-operations of the extended patch content to be stored (e.g.,copied) from the extended patch storage (e.g., C6 power state storagesection of cache) into the patch memory, for example, for use by amicro-code sequencer to translate (e.g., decode) a patched instruction.Note that enhanced patch code may refer to the micro-operations thatcause the extending of storage, but extended patch storage may refer tostorage for the micro-operations that are used as the patch itself foran instruction (e.g., that change the functionality of the instruction).

In one embodiment, the microcode routine (e.g., code including a set ofmicro-operations, which may be referred to as enhanced patch code) maybe any combination of: called from different patch points, getsexclusive access to execution resources so only one (e.g.,central-processing unit (CPU) or logical core) thread is executing,loads (e.g., copies without destroying) a (e.g., given) number ofmicro-operations per instruction from the extended patch storage intothe patch memory, executes those micro-operations for the instruction,restores any micro-operations (that were overwritten by the load) fromthe copy of the previous patch memory data (e.g., patch content 410 inFIG. 4) (e.g., where they were stored at microcode patch load time),releases exclusive access, and returns after the patch point that calledthe microcode routine (e.g., ghost, super-ghost, or uber-ghost patchroutine). In one embodiment of the third mode of patching (e.g., an“uber-ghost” patch embodiment), a microcode sequencer performs dynamicreconfiguration of runtime patch memory (e.g., MS-RAM) to includeperformance-sensitive micro-operation sections grouped per function(e.g., per macro-instruction) that the platform owner can select via asoftware interface (e.g., a control register) from a microcode patchfunction menu of multiple functions selectable but that cannot all fitin the runtime patch memory (e.g. there may be two performance-sensitivefunctions included in the microcode patch as components 1 and 2 buteither 1 or 2, not both, can fit in the runtime patch memory).

In certain embodiments, microcode patching is extended (e.g., to allowstorage of numerous micro-operations that can be used to addresscritical functionality and security bugs or drive innovativecapabilities post product launch) by leveraging (i) completely unusedsections of a cache (e.g., the C6 power state section of the cache)(e.g., in a “ghost” patch embodiment) and/or (ii) unused at runtimesections of a cache (e.g., the C6 power state section of the cache) andsystem memory (e.g., DRAM back-up of C6 SRAM) (e.g., in a “super-ghost”patch embodiment).

In certain embodiments, the patch swapping may have a performancepenalty due to single thread execution for the copying of the extendedpatch content from cache (e.g., C6 SRAM) into the patch memory (e.g.,MS-RAM) and then copying of the runtime patch content (e.g., patchcontent 410 from FIG. 4) from cache (e.g., C6 SRAM) into the patchmemory (e.g., MS-RAM), but there are a plurality of functional andsecurity fixes that are not latency sensitive or that are infrequentlyinvoked (e.g., filtering of processor accesses to devices, such as theplatform controller hub (PCH), that may take thousands of core cycles tocomplete) that can fully benefit from extended patch capability.

Certain processor cores (e.g., for client use or for server use) mayemploy on-die storage (e.g., a section of cache that is used to storecontext information for a power state change) that is used to storethread, core, and/or non-core circuitry state (e.g., contextinformation) for various environments (e.g., a runtime or other copy ofthe microcode patch of patch memory, thread state for (e.g., TC6/TC7)low power states, core state for (e.g., CC6/CC7) low power states,virtual machine caching structure (VMCS) state, graphics state storage(e.g., for a graphics thread (GT)), a section that is used when not inruntime, but is not used during runtime, storage of coherencyinformation for a transition of a cache coherency circuit (e.g., cachebox (CBo)) (e.g., low power package states), thread state when enteringsystem management mode (SWIM), etc.).

For example, a processor core for server use may include an unusedsection of the cache (e.g., C6 SRAM) called the address hole withstorage behind it and/or other unused sections of the cache (e.g., C6SRAM) (e.g. graphics state storage when the server does not performgraphics processing), and these unused sections of the cache (e.g., C6SRAM) can be used to store additional microcode patch micro-operationscontents (e.g., in a “ghost” patch embodiment). In one embodiment, theextended patch content are micro-operations used to patch aninstruction, and the extended patch content is part of the microcodepatch binary image that is encrypted and signed by a manufacturer, andat patch load time after the successful authentication of the patch, itis written into an unused section of the cache (e.g., C6 SRAM). Incertain embodiments, the extended patch content (e.g., also) includes alist of micro patch-match registers (e.g., that when a bit(s) is set)causes an intercept (e.g., interrupt) of processor execution and callsfor execution of enhanced patch code (e.g., “ghost” patch routine) fromany flow that is desired to use the extended patching (e.g., “ghost”patch) functionality. In one embodiment, a micro-patch match registerincludes a bit or bits (e.g. In one embodiment, a microcode patch loadercode, that when executed, causes a copy of the patch memory (e.g., theruntime section of the microcode patch that includes micro-operationsand micro patch-match registers) to be saved in a section of the cache(e.g., C6 SRAM), for example, with the extended patch content saved in adifferent section. In certain embodiments, the enhanced patch code(e.g., the “ghost” patch routine part of the runtime MS-RAM) getsexclusive access so that only one thread is executing (e.g., in a core),then copies a requested section of the extended patch content (e.g.,patch micro-operation(s)) from the corresponding location in the cache(e.g., C6 SRAM) into the patch memory (e.g., MS-RAM). In one embodiment,the core will execute the patch micro-operation(s) from patch memory(e.g., MS-RAM) (e.g., patch memory 206 in FIG. 2, patch memory 306 inFIG. 4, or patch memory 406 in FIG. 4) and at the end will copy backinto the (e.g., runtime) patch memory (e.g., MS-RAM) the “original”micro-operations from the copy of the patch memory (e.g., the runtimesection of the microcode patch that includes micro-operations and micropatch-match registers) stored in another section of the cache (e.g., C6SRAM) (e.g., from patch content 410 in FIG. 4), and may then releaseexclusive access and return to the interrupted flow.

In certain embodiments, a microcode update populates both the patchmemory (e.g., MS-RAM 206 in FIG. 2) and match register(s) (e.g., micropatch-match register(s) 224 in FIG. 2) that act as breakpoints withinthe read-only memory (e.g., MS-ROM 204 in FIG. 2), to allow jumping tothe updated micro-operation(s) in the patch memory (e.g., MS-RAM 206 inFIG. 2). In one embodiment, a match operation is performed for eachmicro-operation (that is requested to be executed) against themicro-operations identified by the match register(s) as including apatch (for example, by comparing a micro-operation pointer (e.g.,microcode instruction pointer (UIP)) to all of a plurality of pointersstored in match registers for patched micro-operations) and with anymatch resulting in a jump (e.g., of execution) to the correspondingdestination micro-operation address in the patch memory. In oneembodiment, a match then triggers execution of code (e.g., microcodepatch match trigger code 512 in FIGS. 5A-5C). In one embodiment, a matchregister includes a microcode match address (for example, amicro-operation address of the read only-memory, e.g., an address for aparticular micro-operation in the MS-ROM 204 in FIG. 2) and a microcodedestination address of the patch memory (e.g., address for a patchedmicro-operation(s) in the MS-RAM 206 in FIG. 2).

In certain embodiments, the subset of (e.g., less than all of) theextended patch content (e.g., micro-operation(s)) copied from theextended patch storage section of the cache (e.g., C6 SRAM) into patchmemory (e.g., MS-RAM) depends on the function calling the enhanced patchcode. In one embodiment, execution of the enhanced patch code causesloading (e.g., copying) of only a subset of less than all of theextended patch content (e.g., micro-operation(s)) for performancereasons.

For example, a processor core for client use may not have enough unusedspace in the section of the cache (e.g., C6 SRAM), and utilize one ofthe other patch extension modes discussed herein (e.g., the second orthird mode). For example, a processor core for server use may need moremicrocode patch storage space than what is available in previouslyunused sections of the cache (e.g., C6 SRAM). In one embodiment, asecond mode of patching micro-operations uses existing sections of thecache (e.g., C6 SRAM) that are used when the core/thread is in a lowpower state but are not used at runtime (e.g., where a thread/corecannot be simultaneously in both an active and a sleep state, such asTC6 or TC7 or CC6 or CC7). In one embodiment when the second mode isenabled, the hardware initialization manager (e.g., BIOS) or software(e.g., OS or virtual machine monitor (VMM)) allocates a reserved area inthe system memory (e.g., main memory) (e.g., DRAM) via a controlregister (e.g., model specific register (MSR) interface).

In one embodiment when the second mode is enabled, at the patch loadtime, if the reserved area was allocated prior to the microcode patchload trigger operation, the load time microcode patch section will storethe extended patch content (e.g., micro-operations) in the correspondingthread's context information storage section (e.g., for TC6/TC7 lowpower states) of the cache (e.g., C6 section of SRAM) and will alsostore it encrypted with integrity protection in the reserved area in thesystem memory. In certain embodiments, low power state exit code (e.g.,restoration code) (e.g., implementing the TC6/TC7 exit restoration)causes the loading (e.g., copying) of the encrypted version of theextended patch content from the system memory, decrypting it, andstoring (e.g., if authenticated) of the decrypted extended patch contentback into the context information storage section (e.g., for TC6/TC7 lowpower states) of the cache (e.g., C6 SRAM). In one embodiment, the lowpower state exit code is stored in a (e.g., different) section of thecache (e.g., C6 SRAM), for example, that is previously unused in thecache. In one embodiment, the encryption is performed with an (e.g.,128-bit) encryption algorithm (e.g., of the Advanced Encryption Standard(AES)) key generated by an on-die digital random number generator(DRNG), the initialization vector (IV) is a same number of bits (e.g.,128-bit) value generated by the on-die digital random number generator(DRNG), the computed key schedule and IV are stored in (e.g., fastscratchpad) registers located in the core, and the integrity is computedbased on the (e.g., AES-Galois/Counter Mode (AES-GCM)) encryptionalgorithm. In one embodiment, a thread will enter unbreakable shutdownin case the microcode patch integrity check failed.

In certain embodiments, at runtime, a second mode of extended patching(e.g., a “super-ghost” patch embodiment) functions the same as a firstmode of extended patching (e.g., a “ghost” patch embodiment) except theextended patch content is being copied from a same location that is alsoused to store a thread's or core's context information when the threador core, respectively, is not in runtime, for example, instead ofcopying the extended patch content from a previously unused (e.g., itwas a “hole” that was not set aside for any use) section.

In certain embodiments, a third mode of extended patching (e.g., an“uber-ghost” patch embodiment) allows for dynamic reconfiguration ofruntime patch memory (e.g., MS-RAM) for performance-sensitive pieces offunctionality (e.g., to select a proper subset of the components shownin FIG. 9. In one embodiment, a user (e.g., platform owner oradministrator) selects which extended patching functionality (e.g.,component(s)) is active at runtime based on a control register (e.g.,MSR). In certain embodiments, a third mode of extended patching (e.g.,an “uber-ghost” patch embodiment) includes a plurality of componentsthat are part of a microcode patch, for example, and are defined asfirst mode or second mode patch components. In one embodiment, all ofthe plurality of components of the extended patch content will not fitin the runtime patch memory (e.g., MS-RAM). For example, there may betwo components as part of a given microcode patch but only one of themwill fit in patch memory (e.g., MS-RAM). In one embodiment, the controlregister (e.g., MSR) allows the selection of either component, andcauses the microcode (e.g., micro-operations) for that component to becopied from the section of the cache (e.g., C6 section of SRAM) into thepatch memory (e.g., MS-RAM).

FIGS. 5A-9 each illustrate various storage locations for code andextended patch content. It should be understood that each read-onlymemory in FIGS. 5A-9 may be any read-only memory, e.g., read-only memory204 in FIG. 2, read-only memory 304 in FIG. 3, or read-only memory 404in FIG. 4. It should be understood that each patch memory in FIGS. 5A-9may be any patch memory, e.g., patch memory 206 in FIG. 2, patch memory306 in FIG. 4, or patch memory 406 in FIG. 4. It should be understoodthat each system memory in FIGS. 5A-9 may be any system memory, e.g.,system memory 108 in FIG. 1. It should be understood that all storage(e.g., memory) may be non-transitory.

In certain embodiments, a read-only memory is loaded with its (e.g., asdepicted in the Figures) data at manufacture time. In certainembodiments, the patch memory and/or cache are loaded with its data(e.g., as depicted in the Figures) or firmware is updated to cause aload of that data by a microcode patch binary image sent by themanufacturer.

FIGS. 5A-5C illustrate extended patching in a system 500 including aread-only memory 504, a patch memory 506, and a cache 508 according toembodiments of the disclosure. In FIG. 5A, read-only memory 504 includesmicrocode patch-match trigger code 512 and code 516 to copy data fromcache 508 to patch memory 506. In certain embodiments, an instruction isreceived (e.g., by a microcode sequencer) for decoding, and it isdetermined (e.g., by the comparing the address, pointer, or opcode ofthat instruction to a list of addresses, pointers, or opcodes forpatched instructions) that the instruction is one that is to-be-patched(e.g., using additional and/or different micro-operations than thosestored in read-only memory 504). In certain embodiments, receipt of aninstruction (e.g., for decoding) causes a comparison (e.g., by amicrocode sequencer) of that instruction (e.g., one or moremicro-operations for that instruction) to a list of patched instructions(e.g., patched micro-operations). In one embodiment, when a match isdetermined (e.g., for an enhanced patch), the microcode patch-matchtrigger code 512 then triggers the execution of the enhanced patch code514 (e.g., “ghost” patch code) stored in patch memory 506. In certainembodiments, the execution of the enhanced patch code 514 (e.g., “ghost”patch code) stored in patch memory 506 causes execution of code 516 tocopy (e.g., all or a proper subset of) extended patch content 520 (e.g.,micro-operations) from the cache 508 to patch memory 506, e.g., and theover-writing of micro-operations that were already stored in the patchmemory 506.

In FIG. 5B, the copy 522 of the extended patch content 520 has beensaved in patch memory 506. In one embodiment, the copy 522 overwritesthe enhanced patch code 514. In another embodiment, the copy 522 doesnot overwrite the enhanced patch code 514. Optionally, the completion ofsaving the copy 522 of the extended patch content in patch memory 506 isindicated to the code 516, e.g., as that code is to cause execution ofthe copy 522 of the extended patch content from patch memory 506.

In FIG. 5C, the execution of the copy 522 of the extended patch contentfrom patch memory 506 is complete, so the code 516 is then to cause aload (e.g., restoration) of the (e.g., all or only the overwritten) datain the patch memory 506 from the copy 518 of the overwritten data (e.g.,the patch content, but not the extended patch content) to restore thepatch content 524. In one embodiment, after patch content 524 is stored(e.g., restored) into patch memory 506, an indication of that is sent tothe microcode patch-match trigger code 512, for example, which thenallows the microcode sequencer to move onto decoding the nextinstruction (e.g., and/or removes the core from being in single threadmode).

FIG. 6 illustrates extended patching in a system 600 including aread-only memory 604, a patch memory 606, a cache 608, and a systemmemory 610 according to embodiments of the disclosure. Although FIG. 6illustrates storage and code for multiple patching modes (e.g., first,second, and third modes), it should be understood that any one or moreof these components may be used, e.g., for a core operating in a singlepatching mode.

In FIG. 6, patch memory 606 includes enhanced patch code 612, that whenexecuted, causes data (e.g., micro-operation or micro-operations) to becopied from extended patch storage (e.g., 618, 620 in cache 608) topatch memory 606. Enhanced patch code 612 may include microcodepatch-match trigger code. In certain embodiments, an instruction isreceived (e.g., by a microcode sequencer) for decoding, and it isdetermined (e.g., by the comparing the opcode of that instruction to alist of opcodes for patched instructions) that the instruction is onethat is to-be-patched (e.g., using additional and/or differentmicro-operations than those stored in read-only memory 604). In certainembodiments, receipt of an instruction for decoding causes execution ofenhanced patch code 612, which compares that instruction, e.g., itsopcode, to a list of opcodes for patched instruction(s). In oneembodiment, when a match is determined, the enhanced patch code 612 thencauses a load of (e.g., all or a proper subset of) extended patchcontent (e.g., 618 or 620) (e.g., micro-operations) from the cache 608to patch memory 606, e.g., and the over-writing of micro-operations thatwere already stored in the patch memory 606.

Patch memory 606 (or read-only memory 604) may include patch load timecode 614, that when executed, causes a store (e.g., and encrypt withintegrity) of the extended patch code (e.g., micro-operations) intosystem memory 610. Read-only memory 604 (or patch memory 606) mayinclude code 616, that when executed, causes a load of the patch contentfrom patch content storage 622 of cache 608 (e.g., C6 section of cache)into patch memory 606. In one embodiment, a reset of a processor (e.g.,core) causes execution of code 616.

Depicted cache 608 includes two sections 618 and 620 (although a singleor any plurality may be used) that are reserved (e.g., takes the highestpriority) for context information (e.g., thread state) for a respectivethread (T0 and T1) that is to be turned off (e.g., power shut off to thecore or execution resources for that thread). In one embodiment, athread state includes the content of register(s), cache(s), and/or otherdata in execution resources at the time of stoppage. In certainembodiments, one or more of sections 618 and 620 are used (e.g., when arespective thread is running, and thus is not storing its state yet) asextended patch storage for microcode patching. Depicted system memory610 (e.g., in a second mode of microcode patching) includes a partition628 allocated to store (e.g., encrypted) a copy of the extended patchcontent (e.g., micro-operations) that is stored (e.g., in runtime) inthread 0's reserved section 618 of cache 608, for example, so that whenreserved section 618 is used to store the thread 0 state, when thatthread state is restored into the thread's execution resources, the copyof the extended patch content is loaded (e.g., copied) from partition628 of system memory 610 into thread 0's now unused, yet reserved,section 618 of cache 608. Depicted system memory 610 (e.g., in a secondmode of microcode patching) includes a partition 630 allocated to store(e.g., encrypted) a copy of the extended patch content (e.g.,micro-operations) that is stored (e.g., in runtime) in thread 1'sreserved section 620 of cache 608, for example, so that when reservedsection 620 is used to store the thread 1 state, when that thread stateis restored into the thread's execution resources, the copy of theextended patch content is loaded (e.g., copied) from partition 630 ofsystem memory 610 into thread 1's now unused, yet reserved, section 620of cache 608.

Cache 608 may include a copy of the (non-extended) patch content storedin patch content storage 622, e.g., a copy of the patch memory 606before it is overwritten with extended patch content (e.g.,micro-operations).

Cache 608 may include lower power state exit code 624 (e.g., core orthread context information restore code) that, when executed, copies(e.g., and decrypts and authenticates) extended patch content from(e.g., partition 628 and/or partition 630 of) system memory 610 into(e.g., section 618 and/or section 620 of) cache 608. Cache 608 mayinclude other storage for non-core circuitry state or core state 626,e.g., that is not utilized during extended microcode patching.

FIG. 7 illustrates extended patching in a system 700 including a patchmemory 706, a cache 708, and a system memory 710 according toembodiments of the disclosure. In one embodiment, system 700 implementsa second mode of extended patching (e.g., a “super-ghost” patchembodiment).

In FIG. 7, patch memory 706 may include patch load time code 714, thatwhen executed, causes a store of the extended patch code (e.g.,micro-operations) into cache 708 (e.g., into the C6 context informationstorage section (e.g., block) of the cache) and a store (e.g., andencrypts with integrity) of the extended patch code into system memory710. Depicted cache 708 includes two sections 718 and 720 (although asingle or any plurality may be used) that are reserved (e.g., takes thehighest priority) for context information (e.g., thread state) for arespective thread (T0 and T1) that is to be turned off (e.g., power shutoff to the core or execution resources for that thread). In oneembodiment, a thread state includes the content of register(s),cache(s), and/or other data in execution resources at the time ofstoppage. In certain embodiments, one or more of sections 718 and 720are used (e.g., when a respective thread is running, and thus is notstoring its state yet) as extended patch storage for microcode patching.Depicted system memory 710 (e.g., in a second mode of microcodepatching) includes a partition 728 allocated to store (e.g., encrypted)a copy of the extended patch content (e.g., micro-operations) that isstored (e.g., in runtime) in thread 0's reserved section 718 of cache708, for example, so that when reserved section 718 is used to store thethread 0 state, when that thread state is restored into the thread'sexecution resources, the copy of the extended patch content is loaded(e.g., copied) from partition 728 of system memory 710 into thread 0'snow unused, yet reserved, section 718 of cache 708. Depicted systemmemory 710 (e.g., in a second mode of microcode patching) includes apartition 730 allocated to store (e.g., encrypted) a copy of theextended patch content (e.g., micro-operations) that is stored (e.g., inruntime) in thread 1's reserved section 720 of cache 708, for example,so that when reserved section 720 is used to store the thread 1 state,when that thread state is restored into the thread's executionresources, the copy of the extended patch content is loaded (e.g.,copied) from partition 730 of system memory 710 into thread 1's nowunused, yet reserved, section 720 of cache 708.

Cache 708 may include a copy 722 of the (non-extended) patch content,e.g., a copy of the patch memory 706 before it is overwritten withextended patch content (e.g., micro-operations).

Cache 708 may include low (e.g., lower) power state exit code 724 (e.g.,core or thread context information restore code) that, when executed,copies (e.g., and decrypts and authenticates) extended patch contentfrom (e.g., partition 728 and/or partition 730 of) system memory 710into (e.g., section 718 and/or section 720 of) cache 708.

In certain embodiments, at microcode patch load time (e.g., triggered byexecuting a write to control register instruction to set a bit or bitsof a control register), patch load time code 714 (e.g., microcode patchloader) (e.g., after authenticating the new microcode patch specified bysoftware) executes to cause a store of the extended patch content (e.g.,micro-operations) in the corresponding thread's context informationstorage section (e.g., 718 or 720 for TC6/TC7 low power states) of thecache (e.g., C6 section of SRAM) and will also store it encrypted withintegrity protection in the reserved area in the system memory 710. Incertain embodiments, low power state exit code 724 (e.g., restorationcode) (e.g., implementing the TC6/TC7 exit restoration) causes theloading (e.g., copying) of the encrypted version of the extended patchcontent from the system memory 710, decrypting it, and storing (e.g., ifauthenticated) of the decrypted extended patch content back into thecontext information storage section (e.g., 718 or 720 for TC6/TC7 lowpower states) of the cache 708 (e.g., C6 SRAM).

In one embodiment, execution of the patch load time code 714 causes astore of one or more (e.g., any combination) of the items depicted incache 708 and/or system memory 710 in FIG. 7.

FIG. 8 illustrates extended patching in a system 800 including a patchmemory 806, a cache 808, and a system memory 810 according toembodiments of the disclosure. In one embodiment, system 800 implementsa second mode of extended patching (e.g., a “super-ghost” patchembodiment).

In FIG. 8, patch memory 806 includes enhanced patch code 812, that whenexecuted, causes data (e.g., micro-operation or micro-operations) to becopied from extended patch storage (e.g., 818, 820 in cache 808) topatch memory 806. Enhanced patch code 812 may include microcodepatch-match trigger code. In certain embodiments, an instruction isreceived (e.g., by a microcode sequencer) for decoding, and it isdetermined (e.g., by the comparing the opcode of that instruction to alist of opcodes for patched instructions) that the instruction is onethat is to-be-patched (e.g., using additional and/or differentmicro-operations than those stored in read-only memory). In certainembodiments, receipt of an instruction for decoding causes execution ofenhanced patch code 812, which compares that instruction, e.g., itsopcode, to a list of opcodes for patched instruction(s). Note thediscussion of opcode fields below. In one embodiment, when a match isdetermined, the enhanced patch code 812 then causes a load of (e.g., allor a proper subset of) extended patch content (e.g., from 818 or 820)(e.g., micro-operations) from the cache 808 to patch memory 806, e.g.,and the over-writing of micro-operations that were already stored in thepatch memory 806.

Patch memory 806 (or read-only memory) may include patch load time code,that when executed, causes a store (e.g., and encrypt with integrity) ofthe extended patch code (e.g., micro-operations) into system memory 810.

Depicted cache 808 includes two sections 818 and 820 (although a singleor any plurality may be used) that are reserved (e.g., takes the highestpriority) for context information (e.g., thread state) for a respectivethread (T0 and T1) that is to be turned off (e.g., power shut off to thecore or execution resources for that thread). In one embodiment, athread state includes the content of register(s), cache(s), and/or otherdata in execution resources at the time of stoppage. In certainembodiments, one or more of sections 818 and 820 are used (e.g., when arespective thread is running, and thus is not storing its state yet) asextended patch storage for microcode patching. Depicted system memory810 (e.g., in a second mode of microcode patching) includes a partition828 allocated to store (e.g., encrypted) a copy of the extended patchcontent (e.g., micro-operations) that is stored (e.g., in runtime) inthread 0's reserved section 818 of cache 808, for example, so that whenreserved section 818 is used to store the thread 0 state, when thatthread state is restored into the thread's execution resources, the copyof the extended patch content is loaded (e.g., copied) from partition828 of system memory 810 into thread 0's now unused, yet reserved,section 818 of cache 808. Depicted system memory 810 (e.g., in a secondmode of microcode patching) includes a partition 830 allocated to store(e.g., encrypted) a copy of the extended patch content (e.g.,micro-operations) that is stored (e.g., in runtime) in thread 1'sreserved section 820 of cache 808, for example, so that when reservedsection 820 is used to store the thread 1 state, when that thread stateis restored into the thread's execution resources, the copy of theextended patch content is loaded (e.g., copied) from partition 830 ofsystem memory 810 into thread 1's now unused, yet reserved, section 820of cache 808.

Cache 808 may include a copy 822 of the (non-extended) patch content,e.g., a copy of the patch memory 806 before it is overwritten withextended patch content (e.g., micro-operations). Cache 808 may includelower power state exit code 824 (e.g., core or thread contextinformation restore code) that, when executed, copies (e.g., anddecrypts and authenticates) extended patch content from (e.g., partition828 and/or partition 830 of) system memory 810 into (e.g., section 818and/or section 820 of) cache 808.

In one embodiment, execution of the extended patch code 812 causes astore and/or load of one or more (e.g., any combination) of the itemsdepicted in cache 808 and/or system memory 810 in FIG. 8.

In one embodiment, exiting a power state (e.g., the TC6 low power stateor TC7 low power state) that caused the store of core and/or threadcontext information into storage section 818 or 820, causes execution oflower power state exit code 824 (e.g., core or thread contextinformation restore code) that copies (e.g., and decrypts andauthenticate/integrity check it) extended patch content from (e.g.,partition 828 and/or partition 830 of) system memory 810 into (e.g.,section 818 and/or section 820 of) cache 808.

FIG. 9 illustrates extended patching in a system including a controlregister 940, a read-only memory 904, a patch memory 906, and a cache908 according to embodiments of the disclosure. In one embodiment,system 900 implements a third mode of extended patching (e.g., an“uber-ghost” patch embodiment).

In FIG. 9, patch memory 906 includes enhanced patch code 912, that whenexecuted, reads a value stored in control register 940 and, based onthat value, selects one or more (e.g., any combination of) extendedpatch components 1-N (where N is any integer), and causes the components(e.g., micro-operation or micro-operations) to be copied from extendedpatch storage 942 to patch memory 906.

In one embodiment, the component(s) of the enhanced patch code 912 thatare loaded from extended patch component storage 942 of the cache 908remain stored in patch memory 906, e.g., and the over-writing ofmicro-operations that were already stored in the patch memory 906. Inone embodiment, the extended patch content remains stored in the patchmemory until the core is reset or the workload changes (e.g., a changefrom a first virtual machine to a second virtual machine).

Cache 908 may include a copy of the (non-extended) patch content storedin patch content storage 922, e.g., a copy of the patch memory 906before it is overwritten with extended patch content component(s) (e.g.,micro-operations). In one embodiment, a user (e.g., platform owner oradministrator) selects which extended patching functionality (e.g.,which of component or components 1-N) is active at runtime based oncontrol register 940. In certain embodiments, a third mode of extendedpatching (e.g., an “uber-ghost” patch embodiment) includes a pluralityof components 1-N that are part of a microcode patch, for example, andare also defined under a first mode or second mode of patching. In oneembodiment, all of the plurality of components of the extended patchcomponents will not fit in the runtime patch memory 906 (e.g., MS-RAM).For example, there may be N number of components as part of a givenmicrocode patch but only a proper subset (e.g., less than N) will fit inpatch memory 906 (e.g., MS-RAM). In certain embodiments, the controlregister 940 allows the selection (e.g., by software) of anycomponent(s), and causes the microcode (e.g., micro-operations) for thatcomponent to be copied from the extended patch storage section 942 ofthe cache (e.g., C6 section of SRAM) and then reside in the patch memory906 (e.g., MS-RAM).

Read-only memory 904 (or patch memory 906) may include code 916, thatwhen executed, causes a load of the patch content from patch contentstorage 922 of cache 908 (e.g., C6 section of cache) into patch memory906. In one embodiment, a reset of a processor (e.g., core) causesexecution of code 916.

In certain embodiments herein, a patch memory does not have storagespace for an entire set of micro-operations, so a microcode sequencermay iteratively (e.g., serially) swap portions of less than all of theentire set from the cache (e.g., C6 section of SRAM) into the patchmemory (e.g., MS-RAM) until the instruction that caused the extendedpatching to be used has executed the entire set of micro-operations. Inone embodiment, the latency for a core to non-core operation is lower(e.g., about 40 cycles of the core clock) than the latency for a core tosystem memory operation (e.g., about 300 cycles of the core clock).

In certain embodiments, only microcode (e.g., and not user suppliedinstructions) can access a certain section (e.g., the C6 section) ofcache. In one embodiment, the hardware initialization manager (e.g.,executing BIOS or UEFI firmware) causes one or more of the codediscussed herein to be loaded into storage, e.g., into a certain section(e.g., the C6 section) of cache.

In certain embodiments, a microcode sequencer (e.g., microcode sequencercircuit) includes the code discussed herein, for example, the microcodesequencer causes the code that performs the extending patching to beexecuted, e.g., on receipt by the microcode sequencer of an instructionthat is to be decoded. A microcode sequencer may utilize any of themethods or flow discussed herein, e.g., any of the flows discussed inFIGS. 10-12.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flow diagram 1000 for extended patching accordingto embodiments of the disclosure. Depicted flow 1000 includes fetching afirst instruction, a second instruction, and a third instruction with afetch circuit of a core of a processor 1002; decoding the firstinstruction into a first set of at least one micro-operation with adecoder circuit of the core 1004; sending the first set of at least onemicro-operation from the decoder circuit to an execution circuit of thecore 1006; storing a third set of at least one micro-operation for thethird instruction in a section of a cache that stores contextinformation from the core when the core is transitioned to a power statethat shuts off voltage to the core 1008; sending, by a microcodesequencer of the core, a second set of at least one micro-operationstored in a read-only memory of the microcode sequencer for the secondinstruction to the execution circuit of the core 1010; loading, by themicrocode sequencer of the core, the third set of at least onemicro-operation into a patch memory of the microcode sequencer from thesection of the cache 1012; sending, by the microcode sequencer of thecore, the third set of at least one micro-operation from the patchmemory to the execution circuit 1014; and executing the first set, thesecond set, and the third set of micro-operations with the executioncircuit of the core 1016.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flow diagram 1100 for extended patching accordingto embodiments of the disclosure. Depicted flow 1100 includes fetching afirst instruction, a second instruction, and a third instruction with afetch circuit of a core of a processor 1102; decoding the firstinstruction into a first set of at least one micro-operation with adecoder circuit of the core 1104; sending the first set of at least onemicro-operation from the decoder circuit to an execution circuit of thecore 1106; storing a third set of at least one micro-operation for thethird instruction in a section of a cache that stores contextinformation from the core when the core is transitioned to a power statethat shuts off voltage to the core 1108; storing a copy of the third setof at least one micro-operation in a system memory coupled to theprocessor 1110; sending, by a microcode sequencer of the core, a secondset of at least one micro-operation stored in a read-only memory of themicrocode sequencer for the second instruction to the execution circuitof the core 1112; storing a fourth set of at least one micro-operationinto the patch memory, wherein the microcode sequencer causes executionof the fourth set to cause the third set of at least one micro-operationto be loaded into the section of the cache from the system memory 1114;loading, by the microcode sequencer of the core, the third set of atleast one micro-operation into a patch memory of the microcode sequencerfrom the section of the cache 1116; sending, by the microcode sequencerof the core, the third set of at least one micro-operation from thepatch memory to the execution circuit 1118; and executing the first set,the second set, and the third set of micro-operations with the executioncircuit of the core 1120.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow diagram 1200 for extended patching accordingto embodiments of the disclosure. Depicted flow 1200 includes storing afirst value or a second value in a patch control field of a controlregister of a core of a processor 1202; fetching a first instruction, asecond instruction, a third instruction, and a fourth instruction with afetch circuit of the core of the processor 1204; decoding the firstinstruction into a first set of at least one micro-operation with adecoder circuit of the core 1206; sending the first set of at least onemicro-operation from the decoder circuit to an execution circuit of thecore 1208; storing a third set of at least one micro-operation for thethird instruction in a section of a cache that stores contextinformation from the core when the core is transitioned to a power statethat shuts off voltage to the core 1210; storing a fourth set of atleast one micro-operation for the fourth instruction in the section ofthe cache that stores context information from the core when the core istransitioned to the power state that shuts off voltage to the core 1212;sending, by a microcode sequencer of the core, a second set of at leastone micro-operation stored in a read-only memory of the microcodesequencer for the second instruction to the execution circuit of thecore 1214; loading, by the microcode sequencer of the core, the thirdset of at least one micro-operation into a patch memory of the microcodesequencer from the section of the cache when the first value is storedin the patch control field of the control register, and sending, by themicrocode sequencer of the core, the third set of at least onemicro-operation from the patch memory to the execution circuit when thefirst value is stored in the patch control field of the control register1216; loading, by the microcode sequencer of the core, the fourth set ofat least one micro-operation into the patch memory of the microcodesequencer from the section of the cache when the second value is storedin the patch control field of the control register, and sending, by themicrocode sequencer of the core, the fourth set of at least onemicro-operation from the patch memory to the execution circuit when thesecond value is stored in the patch control field of the controlregister 1218; and executing the first set, the second set, and thethird set or the fourth set of micro-operations with the executioncircuit of the core 1220.

In one embodiment, a processor includes a core; a cache having a section(e.g., not accessible by a user) to store context information from thecore when the core is transitioned to a power state that shuts offvoltage to the core; a fetch circuit of the core to fetch a firstinstruction, a second instruction, and a third instruction; a decodercircuit of the core coupled to the fetch circuit to decode (e.g.,without using a microcode sequencer) the first instruction into a firstset of at least one micro-operation; an execution circuit to executemicro-operations; and a microcode sequencer of the core coupled to thefetch circuit (and/or decoder circuit) and comprising a patch memory anda read-only memory (e.g., that are not accessible by the user) thatstores a plurality of micro-operations, wherein the microcode sequencersends, to the execution circuit, a second set of at least onemicro-operation from the plurality of micro-operations stored in theread-only memory for the second instruction received from the fetchcircuit, and causes, for the third instruction received from the fetchcircuit, a third set of at least one micro-operation to be loaded intothe patch memory from the section of the cache, and sends, to theexecution circuit, the third set of at least one micro-operation fromthe patch memory. The power state may be a C6 (or deeper) power stateaccording to an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)standard. The patch memory may include a fourth set of at least onemicro-operation (e.g., enhanced patch code) for the third instructionthat, when the microcode sequencer causes the fourth set to be executed,causes the third set of at least one micro-operation to be loaded intothe patch memory from the section of the cache. Firmware, stored innon-transitory storage (e.g., hardware initialization manager storage)coupled to the processor, may include an instruction that when decodedand executed by the processor causes the processor to insert the fourthset of at least one micro-operation into the patch memory for the thirdinstruction. The third set of at least one micro-operation loaded intothe patch memory may overwrite at least one of a plurality ofmicro-operations stored in the patch memory, and the microcode sequencermay reload the at least one of the plurality of micro-operations thatwas overwritten when execution of the third set of at least onemicro-operation is complete. The microcode sequencer may cause, for afourth instruction fetched by the fetch circuit, a fourth set of atleast one micro-operation, different than the third set, to be loadedinto the patch memory from the section of the cache, and send, to theexecution circuit, the fourth set of at least one micro-operation fromthe patch memory. The processor may include a system memory comprising acopy of the third set of at least one micro-operation coupled to theprocessor, wherein the patch memory comprises a fourth set of at leastone micro-operation that, when the microcode sequencer causes the fourthset to be executed, causes the third set of at least one micro-operationto be loaded (e.g., only after decryption and authentication) into thesection of the cache from the system memory. The microcode sequencer maycause the fourth set to be executed when the core is transitioned to apower state (e.g., ACPI C0) that turns on the voltage to the core.

In another embodiment, a method includes fetching a first instruction, asecond instruction, and a third instruction with a fetch circuit of acore of a processor; decoding the first instruction into a first set ofat least one micro-operation with a decoder circuit of the core; sendingthe first set of at least one micro-operation from the decoder circuitto an execution circuit of the core; storing a third set of at least onemicro-operation for the third instruction in a section of a cache thatstores context information from the core when the core is transitionedto a power state that shuts off voltage to the core; sending, by amicrocode sequencer of the core, a second set of at least onemicro-operation stored in a read-only memory of the microcode sequencerfor the second instruction to the execution circuit of the core;loading, by the microcode sequencer of the core, the third set of atleast one micro-operation into a patch memory of the microcode sequencerfrom the section of the cache; sending, by the microcode sequencer ofthe core, the third set of at least one micro-operation from the patchmemory to the execution circuit; and executing the first set, the secondset, and the third set of micro-operations with the execution circuit ofthe core. The power state may be a low (e.g., C6 or C7) power stateaccording to an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)standard. The method may include storing a fourth set of at least onemicro-operation for the third instruction into the patch memory of themicrocode sequencer, wherein, in response to receipt of a request (e.g.,a request for micro-operations for the received (e.g, macro)instruction) for the third instruction, the microcode sequencer causesexecution of the fourth set that causes the loading of the third set ofat least one micro-operation into the patch memory of the microcodesequencer from the section of the cache, and the sending of the thirdset of at least one micro-operation from the patch memory to theexecution circuit. The method may include storing firmware including aninstruction in non-transitory storage coupled to the processor, whereindecoding and executing of the instruction by the processor causes thestoring of the fourth set of at least one micro-operation for the thirdinstruction into the patch memory of the microcode sequencer. Wherein,at least when the loading of the third set of at least onemicro-operation into the patch memory overwrites at least one of aplurality of micro-operations stored in the patch memory, the method mayinclude reloading, by the microcode sequencer, the at least one of theplurality of micro-operations that was overwritten when execution of thethird set of at least one micro-operation is complete. The method mayinclude storing a fourth set of at least one micro-operation for afourth instruction in the section of the cache that stores contextinformation from the core when the core is transitioned to the powerstate that shuts off voltage to the core; fetching the fourthinstruction by the fetch circuit; loading, by the microcode sequencer ofthe core, the fourth set of at least one micro-operation into the patchmemory of the microcode sequencer from the section of the cache;sending, by the microcode sequencer of the core, the fourth set of atleast one micro-operation from the patch memory to the executioncircuit; and executing the fourth set of at least one micro-operationwith the execution circuit of the core. The method may include storing acopy of the third set of at least one micro-operation in a system memorycoupled to the processor; and storing a fourth set of at least onemicro-operation into the patch memory, wherein the microcode sequencercauses execution of the fourth set to cause the third set of at leastone micro-operation to be loaded into the section of the cache from thesystem memory. The method may include wherein the microcode sequencercauses the fourth set to be executed when the core is transitioned to apower state that turns on the voltage to the core.

In yet another embodiment, a non-transitory machine readable mediumstores code that when executed by a machine causes the machine toperform a method comprising fetching a first instruction, a secondinstruction, and a third instruction with a fetch circuit of a core of aprocessor; decoding the first instruction into a first set of at leastone micro-operation with a decoder circuit of the core; sending thefirst set of at least one micro-operation from the decoder circuit to anexecution circuit of the core; storing a third set of at least onemicro-operation for the third instruction in a section of a cache thatstores context information from the core when the core is transitionedto a power state that shuts off voltage to the core; sending, by amicrocode sequencer of the core, a second set of at least onemicro-operation stored in a read-only memory of the microcode sequencerfor the second instruction to the execution circuit of the core;loading, by the microcode sequencer of the core, the third set of atleast one micro-operation into a patch memory of the microcode sequencerfrom the section of the cache; sending, by the microcode sequencer ofthe core, the third set of at least one micro-operation from the patchmemory to the execution circuit; and executing the first set, the secondset, and the third set of micro-operations with the execution circuit ofthe core. The power state may be a low (e.g., C6 or C7) power stateaccording to an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)standard. The method may include storing a fourth set of at least onemicro-operation for the third instruction into the patch memory of themicrocode sequencer, wherein, in response to receipt of a request (e.g.,a request for micro-operations for the received (e.g, macro)instruction) for the third instruction, the microcode sequencer causesexecution of the fourth set that causes the loading of the third set ofat least one micro-operation into the patch memory of the microcodesequencer from the section of the cache, and the sending of the thirdset of at least one micro-operation from the patch memory to theexecution circuit. The method may include storing firmware including aninstruction in non-transitory storage coupled to the processor, whereindecoding and executing of the instruction by the processor causes thestoring of the fourth set of at least one micro-operation for the thirdinstruction into the patch memory of the microcode sequencer. Wherein,at least when the loading of the third set of at least onemicro-operation into the patch memory overwrites at least one of aplurality of micro-operations stored in the patch memory, the method mayinclude reloading, by the microcode sequencer, the at least one of theplurality of micro-operations that was overwritten when execution of thethird set of at least one micro-operation is complete. The method mayinclude storing a fourth set of at least one micro-operation for afourth instruction in the section of the cache that stores contextinformation from the core when the core is transitioned to the powerstate that shuts off voltage to the core; fetching the fourthinstruction by the fetch circuit; loading, by the microcode sequencer ofthe core, the fourth set of at least one micro-operation into the patchmemory of the microcode sequencer from the section of the cache;sending, by the microcode sequencer of the core, the fourth set of atleast one micro-operation from the patch memory to the executioncircuit; and executing the fourth set of at least one micro-operationwith the execution circuit of the core. The method may include storing acopy of the third set of at least one micro-operation in a system memorycoupled to the processor; and storing a fourth set of at least onemicro-operation into the patch memory, wherein the microcode sequencercauses execution of the fourth set to cause the third set of at leastone micro-operation to be loaded into the section of the cache from thesystem memory. The method may include wherein the microcode sequencercauses the fourth set to be executed when the core is transitioned to apower state that turns on the voltage to the core.

In another embodiment, a processor includes a core; a control registerfor the core; a cache having a section to store context information fromthe core when the core is transitioned to a power state that shuts offvoltage to the core; a fetch circuit of the core to fetch a firstinstruction, a second instruction, a third instruction, and a fourthinstruction; a decoder circuit of the core coupled to the fetch circuitto decode the first instruction into a first set of at least onemicro-operation; an execution circuit to execute micro-operations; and amicrocode sequencer of the core coupled to the fetch circuit andcomprising a patch memory and a read-only memory that stores a pluralityof micro-operations, wherein the microcode sequencer: sends, to theexecution circuit, a second set of at least one micro-operation from theplurality of micro-operations stored in the read-only memory for thesecond instruction received from the fetch circuit, causes, for thethird instruction received from the fetch circuit, a third set of atleast one micro-operation to be loaded into the patch memory from thesection of the cache, and sends, to the execution circuit, the third setof at least one micro-operation from the patch memory when a first valueis stored in a patch control field of the control register, and causes,for the fourth instruction received from the fetch circuit, a fourth setof at least one micro-operation to be loaded into the patch memory fromthe section of the cache, and sends, to the execution circuit, thefourth set of at least one micro-operation from the patch memory when asecond value is stored in the patch control field of the controlregister. The power state may be a C6 power state according to anAdvanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) standard. The patchmemory may include a fifth set of at least one micro-operation for thethird instruction that, when the microcode sequencer causes the fifthset to be executed, causes the third set of at least one micro-operationto be loaded into the patch memory from the section of the cache whenthe first value is stored in the patch control field of the controlregister. Firmware, stored in non-transitory storage coupled to theprocessor, may include an instruction that when decoded and executed bythe processor causes the processor to insert the fifth set of at leastone micro-operation into the patch memory for the third instruction. Thethird set of at least one micro-operation loaded into the patch memorymay overwrites at least one of a plurality of micro-operations stored inthe patch memory, and the microcode sequencer may reload the at leastone of the plurality of micro-operations that was overwritten whenexecution of the third set of at least one micro-operation is complete.The first value may indicate client mode and the second value mayindicates server mode. The processor may include a system memorycomprising a copy of the third set of at least one micro-operationcoupled to the processor, wherein the patch memory comprises a fifth setof at least one micro-operation that, when the microcode sequencercauses the fifth set to be executed, causes the third set of at leastone micro-operation to be loaded into the section of the cache from thesystem memory. The microcode sequencer may cause the fifth set to beexecuted when the core is transitioned to a power state that turns onthe voltage to the core.

In yet another embodiment, a method includes storing a first value or asecond value in a patch control field of a control register of a core ofa processor; fetching a first instruction, a second instruction, a thirdinstruction, and a fourth instruction with a fetch circuit of the coreof the processor; decoding the first instruction into a first set of atleast one micro-operation with a decoder circuit of the core; sendingthe first set of at least one micro-operation from the decoder circuitto an execution circuit of the core; storing a third set of at least onemicro-operation for the third instruction in a section of a cache thatstores context information from the core when the core is transitionedto a power state that shuts off voltage to the core; storing a fourthset of at least one micro-operation for the fourth instruction in thesection of the cache that stores context information from the core whenthe core is transitioned to the power state that shuts off voltage tothe core; sending, by a microcode sequencer of the core, a second set ofat least one micro-operation stored in a read-only memory of themicrocode sequencer for the second instruction to the execution circuitof the core; loading, by the microcode sequencer of the core, the thirdset of at least one micro-operation into a patch memory of the microcodesequencer from the section of the cache when the first value is storedin the patch control field of the control register; sending, by themicrocode sequencer of the core, the third set of at least onemicro-operation from the patch memory to the execution circuit when thefirst value is stored in the patch control field of the controlregister; loading, by the microcode sequencer of the core, the fourthset of at least one micro-operation into the patch memory of themicrocode sequencer from the section of the cache when the second valueis stored in the patch control field of the control register; sending,by the microcode sequencer of the core, the fourth set of at least onemicro-operation from the patch memory to the execution circuit when thesecond value is stored in the patch control field of the controlregister; and executing the first set, the second set, and the third setor the fourth set of micro-operations with the execution circuit of thecore. The power state may be a C6 power state according to an AdvancedConfiguration and Power Interface (ACPI) standard. The method mayinclude storing a fifth set of at least one micro-operation for thethird instruction into the patch memory of the microcode sequencer,wherein, in response to receipt of a request for the third instruction,the microcode sequencer causes execution of the fifth set that causesthe loading of the third set of at least one micro-operation into thepatch memory of the microcode sequencer from the section of the cache,and the sending of the third set of at least one micro-operation fromthe patch memory to the execution circuit when the first value is storedin the patch control field of the control register. The method mayinclude storing firmware including an instruction in non-transitorystorage coupled to the processor, wherein decoding and executing of theinstruction by the processor causes the storing of the fifth set of atleast one micro-operation for the third instruction into the patchmemory of the microcode sequencer. The method may include, wherein, atleast when the loading of the third set of at least one micro-operationinto the patch memory overwrites at least one of a plurality ofmicro-operations stored in the patch memory, the method furthercomprises reloading, by the microcode sequencer, the at least one of theplurality of micro-operations that was overwritten when execution of thethird set of at least one micro-operation is complete. The method mayinclude storing a fifth set of at least one micro-operation for a fifthinstruction in the section of the cache that stores context informationfrom the core when the core is transitioned to the power state thatshuts off voltage to the core; fetching the fifth instruction by thefetch circuit; loading, by the microcode sequencer of the core, thefifth set of at least one micro-operation into the patch memory of themicrocode sequencer from the section of the cache; sending, by themicrocode sequencer of the core, the fifth set of at least onemicro-operation from the patch memory to the execution circuit; andexecuting the fifth set of at least one micro-operation with theexecution circuit of the core. The method may include storing a copy ofthe third set of at least one micro-operation in a system memory coupledto the processor; and storing a fifth set of at least onemicro-operation into the patch memory, wherein the microcode sequencercauses execution of the fifth set to cause the third set of at least onemicro-operation to be loaded into the section of the cache from thesystem memory. The method may include wherein the microcode sequencercauses the fifth set to be executed when the core is transitioned to apower state that turns on the voltage to the core.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory machine readable medium storescode that when executed by a machine causes the machine to perform amethod comprising storing a first value or a second value in a patchcontrol field of a control register of a core of a processor; fetching afirst instruction, a second instruction, a third instruction, and afourth instruction with a fetch circuit of the core of the processor;decoding the first instruction into a first set of at least onemicro-operation with a decoder circuit of the core; sending the firstset of at least one micro-operation from the decoder circuit to anexecution circuit of the core; storing a third set of at least onemicro-operation for the third instruction in a section of a cache thatstores context information from the core when the core is transitionedto a power state that shuts off voltage to the core; storing a fourthset of at least one micro-operation for the fourth instruction in thesection of the cache that stores context information from the core whenthe core is transitioned to the power state that shuts off voltage tothe core; sending, by a microcode sequencer of the core, a second set ofat least one micro-operation stored in a read-only memory of themicrocode sequencer for the second instruction to the execution circuitof the core; loading, by the microcode sequencer of the core, the thirdset of at least one micro-operation into a patch memory of the microcodesequencer from the section of the cache when the first value is storedin the patch control field of the control register; sending, by themicrocode sequencer of the core, the third set of at least onemicro-operation from the patch memory to the execution circuit when thefirst value is stored in the patch control field of the controlregister; loading, by the microcode sequencer of the core, the fourthset of at least one micro-operation into the patch memory of themicrocode sequencer from the section of the cache when the second valueis stored in the patch control field of the control register; sending,by the microcode sequencer of the core, the fourth set of at least onemicro-operation from the patch memory to the execution circuit when thesecond value is stored in the patch control field of the controlregister; and executing the first set, the second set, and the third setor the fourth set of micro-operations with the execution circuit of thecore. The power state may be a C6 power state according to an AdvancedConfiguration and Power Interface (ACPI) standard. The method mayinclude storing a fifth set of at least one micro-operation for thethird instruction into the patch memory of the microcode sequencer,wherein, in response to receipt of a request for the third instruction,the microcode sequencer causes execution of the fifth set that causesthe loading of the third set of at least one micro-operation into thepatch memory of the microcode sequencer from the section of the cache,and the sending of the third set of at least one micro-operation fromthe patch memory to the execution circuit when the first value is storedin the patch control field of the control register. The method mayinclude storing firmware including an instruction in non-transitorystorage coupled to the processor, wherein decoding and executing of theinstruction by the processor causes the storing of the fifth set of atleast one micro-operation for the third instruction into the patchmemory of the microcode sequencer. The method may include, wherein, atleast when the loading of the third set of at least one micro-operationinto the patch memory overwrites at least one of a plurality ofmicro-operations stored in the patch memory, the method furthercomprises reloading, by the microcode sequencer, the at least one of theplurality of micro-operations that was overwritten when execution of thethird set of at least one micro-operation is complete. The method mayinclude storing a fifth set of at least one micro-operation for a fifthinstruction in the section of the cache that stores context informationfrom the core when the core is transitioned to the power state thatshuts off voltage to the core; fetching the fifth instruction by thefetch circuit; loading, by the microcode sequencer of the core, thefifth set of at least one micro-operation into the patch memory of themicrocode sequencer from the section of the cache; sending, by themicrocode sequencer of the core, the fifth set of at least onemicro-operation from the patch memory to the execution circuit; andexecuting the fifth set of at least one micro-operation with theexecution circuit of the core. The method may include storing a copy ofthe third set of at least one micro-operation in a system memory coupledto the processor; and storing a fifth set of at least onemicro-operation into the patch memory, wherein the microcode sequencercauses execution of the fifth set to cause the third set of at least onemicro-operation to be loaded into the section of the cache from thesystem memory. The method may include wherein the microcode sequencercauses the fifth set to be executed when the core is transitioned to apower state that turns on the voltage to the core.

In yet another embodiment, an apparatus comprises a data storage devicethat stores code that when executed by a hardware processor causes thehardware processor to perform any method disclosed herein. An apparatusmay be as described in the detailed description. A method may be asdescribed in the detailed description.

An instruction set may include one or more instruction formats. A giveninstruction format may define various fields (e.g., number of bits,location of bits) to specify, among other things, the operation to beperformed (e.g., opcode) and the operand(s) on which that operation isto be performed and/or other data field(s) (e.g., mask). Someinstruction formats are further broken down though the definition ofinstruction templates (or subformats). For example, the instructiontemplates of a given instruction format may be defined to have differentsubsets of the instruction format's fields (the included fields aretypically in the same order, but at least some have different bitpositions because there are less fields included) and/or defined to havea given field interpreted differently. Thus, each instruction of an ISAis expressed using a given instruction format (and, if defined, in agiven one of the instruction templates of that instruction format) andincludes fields for specifying the operation and the operands. Forexample, an exemplary ADD instruction has a specific opcode and aninstruction format that includes an opcode field to specify that opcodeand operand fields to select operands (source1/destination and source2);and an occurrence of this ADD instruction in an instruction stream willhave specific contents in the operand fields that select specificoperands. A set of SIMD extensions referred to as the Advanced VectorExtensions (AVX) (AVX1 and AVX2) and using the Vector Extensions (VEX)coding scheme has been released and/or published (e.g., see Intel® 64and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual, May 2018; and seeIntel® Architecture Instruction Set Extensions Programming Reference,May 2018).

Exemplary Instruction Formats

Embodiments of the instruction(s) described herein may be embodied indifferent formats. Additionally, exemplary systems, architectures, andpipelines are detailed below. Embodiments of the instruction(s) may beexecuted on such systems, architectures, and pipelines, but are notlimited to those detailed.

Generic Vector Friendly Instruction Format

A vector friendly instruction format is an instruction format that issuited for vector instructions (e.g., there are certain fields specificto vector operations). While embodiments are described in which bothvector and scalar operations are supported through the vector friendlyinstruction format, alternative embodiments use only vector operationsthe vector friendly instruction format.

FIGS. 13A-13B are block diagrams illustrating a generic vector friendlyinstruction format and instruction templates thereof according toembodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 13A is a block diagram illustratinga generic vector friendly instruction format and class A instructiontemplates thereof according to embodiments of the disclosure; while FIG.13B is a block diagram illustrating the generic vector friendlyinstruction format and class B instruction templates thereof accordingto embodiments of the disclosure. Specifically, a generic vectorfriendly instruction format 1300 for which are defined class A and classB instruction templates, both of which include no memory access 1305instruction templates and memory access 1320 instruction templates. Theterm generic in the context of the vector friendly instruction formatrefers to the instruction format not being tied to any specificinstruction set.

While embodiments of the disclosure will be described in which thevector friendly instruction format supports the following: a 64 bytevector operand length (or size) with 32 bit (4 byte) or 64 bit (8 byte)data element widths (or sizes) (and thus, a 64 byte vector consists ofeither 16 doubleword-size elements or alternatively, 8 quadword-sizeelements); a 64 byte vector operand length (or size) with 16 bit (2byte) or 8 bit (1 byte) data element widths (or sizes); a 32 byte vectoroperand length (or size) with 32 bit (4 byte), 64 bit (8 byte), 16 bit(2 byte), or 8 bit (1 byte) data element widths (or sizes); and a 16byte vector operand length (or size) with 32 bit (4 byte), 64 bit (8byte), 16 bit (2 byte), or 8 bit (1 byte) data element widths (orsizes); alternative embodiments may support more, less and/or differentvector operand sizes (e.g., 256 byte vector operands) with more, less,or different data element widths (e.g., 128 bit (16 byte) data elementwidths).

The class A instruction templates in FIG. 13A include: 1) within the nomemory access 1305 instruction templates there is shown a no memoryaccess, full round control type operation 1310 instruction template anda no memory access, data transform type operation 1315 instructiontemplate; and 2) within the memory access 1320 instruction templatesthere is shown a memory access, temporal 1325 instruction template and amemory access, non-temporal 1330 instruction template. The class Binstruction templates in FIG. 13B include: 1) within the no memoryaccess 1305 instruction templates there is shown a no memory access,write mask control, partial round control type operation 1312instruction template and a no memory access, write mask control, vsizetype operation 1317 instruction template; and 2) within the memoryaccess 1320 instruction templates there is shown a memory access, writemask control 1327 instruction template.

The generic vector friendly instruction format 1300 includes thefollowing fields listed below in the order illustrated in FIGS. 13A-13B.

Format field 1340—a specific value (an instruction format identifiervalue) in this field uniquely identifies the vector friendly instructionformat, and thus occurrences of instructions in the vector friendlyinstruction format in instruction streams. As such, this field isoptional in the sense that it is not needed for an instruction set thathas only the generic vector friendly instruction format.

Base operation field 1342—its content distinguishes different baseoperations.

Register index field 1344—its content, directly or through addressgeneration, specifies the locations of the source and destinationoperands, be they in registers or in memory. These include a sufficientnumber of bits to select N registers from a P×Q (e.g. 32×512, 16×128,32×1024, 64×1024) register file. While in one embodiment N may be up tothree sources and one destination register, alternative embodiments maysupport more or less sources and destination registers (e.g., maysupport up to two sources where one of these sources also acts as thedestination, may support up to three sources where one of these sourcesalso acts as the destination, may support up to two sources and onedestination).

Modifier field 1346—its content distinguishes occurrences ofinstructions in the generic vector instruction format that specifymemory access (1346B) from those that do not (1346A); that is, betweenno memory access 1305 instruction templates and memory access 1320instruction templates. Memory access operations read and/or write to thememory hierarchy (in some cases specifying the source and/or destinationaddresses using values in registers), while non-memory access operationsdo not (e.g., the source and destinations are registers). While in oneembodiment this field also selects between three different ways toperform memory address calculations, alternative embodiments may supportmore, less, or different ways to perform memory address calculations.

Augmentation operation field 1350—its content distinguishes which one ofa variety of different operations to be performed in addition to thebase operation. This field is context specific. In one embodiment of thedisclosure, this field is divided into a class field 1368, an alphafield 1352, and a beta field 1354. The augmentation operation field 1350allows common groups of operations to be performed in a singleinstruction rather than 2, 3, or 4 instructions.

Scale field 1360—its content allows for the scaling of the index field'scontent for memory address generation (e.g., for address generation thatuses 2^(scale)*index+base).

Displacement Field 1362A—its content is used as part of memory addressgeneration (e.g., for address generation that uses2^(scale)*index+base+displacement).

Displacement Factor Field 1362B (note that the juxtaposition ofdisplacement field 1362A directly over displacement factor field 1362Bindicates one or the other is used)—its content is used as part ofaddress generation; it specifies a displacement factor that is to bescaled by the size of a memory access (N)—where N is the number of bytesin the memory access (e.g., for address generation that uses2^(scale)*index+base+scaled displacement). Redundant low-order bits areignored and hence, the displacement factor field's content is multipliedby the memory operands total size (N) in order to generate the finaldisplacement to be used in calculating an effective address. The valueof N is determined by the processor hardware at runtime based on thefull opcode field 1374 (described later herein) and the datamanipulation field 1354C. The displacement field 1362A and thedisplacement factor field 1362B are optional in the sense that they arenot used for the no memory access 1305 instruction templates and/ordifferent embodiments may implement only one or none of the two.

Data element width field 1364—its content distinguishes which one of anumber of data element widths is to be used (in some embodiments for allinstructions; in other embodiments for only some of the instructions).This field is optional in the sense that it is not needed if only onedata element width is supported and/or data element widths are supportedusing some aspect of the opcodes.

Write mask field 1370—its content controls, on a per data elementposition basis, whether that data element position in the destinationvector operand reflects the result of the base operation andaugmentation operation. Class A instruction templates supportmerging-writemasking, while class B instruction templates support bothmerging- and zeroing-writemasking. When merging, vector masks allow anyset of elements in the destination to be protected from updates duringthe execution of any operation (specified by the base operation and theaugmentation operation); in other one embodiment, preserving the oldvalue of each element of the destination where the corresponding maskbit has a 0. In contrast, when zeroing vector masks allow any set ofelements in the destination to be zeroed during the execution of anyoperation (specified by the base operation and the augmentationoperation); in one embodiment, an element of the destination is set to 0when the corresponding mask bit has a 0 value. A subset of thisfunctionality is the ability to control the vector length of theoperation being performed (that is, the span of elements being modified,from the first to the last one); however, it is not necessary that theelements that are modified be consecutive. Thus, the write mask field1370 allows for partial vector operations, including loads, stores,arithmetic, logical, etc. While embodiments of the disclosure aredescribed in which the write mask field's 1370 content selects one of anumber of write mask registers that contains the write mask to be used(and thus the write mask field's 1370 content indirectly identifies thatmasking to be performed), alternative embodiments instead or additionalallow the mask write field's 1370 content to directly specify themasking to be performed.

Immediate field 1372—its content allows for the specification of animmediate. This field is optional in the sense that is it not present inan implementation of the generic vector friendly format that does notsupport immediate and it is not present in instructions that do not usean immediate.

Class field 1368—its content distinguishes between different classes ofinstructions. With reference to FIGS. 13A-B, the contents of this fieldselect between class A and class B instructions. In FIGS. 13A-B, roundedcorner squares are used to indicate a specific value is present in afield (e.g., class A 1368A and class B 1368B for the class field 1368respectively in FIGS. 13A-B).

Instruction Templates of Class A

In the case of the non-memory access 1305 instruction templates of classA, the alpha field 1352 is interpreted as an RS field 1352A, whosecontent distinguishes which one of the different augmentation operationtypes are to be performed (e.g., round 1352A.1 and data transform1352A.2 are respectively specified for the no memory access, round typeoperation 1310 and the no memory access, data transform type operation1315 instruction templates), while the beta field 1354 distinguisheswhich of the operations of the specified type is to be performed. In theno memory access 1305 instruction templates, the scale field 1360, thedisplacement field 1362A, and the displacement factor field 1362B arenot present.

No-Memory Access Instruction Templates—Full Round Control Type Operation

In the no memory access full round control type operation 1310instruction template, the beta field 1354 is interpreted as a roundcontrol field 1354A, whose content(s) provide static rounding. While inthe described embodiments of the disclosure the round control field1354A includes a suppress all floating point exceptions (SAE) field 1356and a round operation control field 1358, alternative embodiments maysupport may encode both these concepts into the same field or only haveone or the other of these concepts/fields (e.g., may have only the roundoperation control field 1358).

SAE field 1356—its content distinguishes whether or not to disable theexception event reporting; when the SAE field's 1356 content indicatessuppression is enabled, a given instruction does not report any kind offloating-point exception flag and does not raise any floating pointexception handler.

Round operation control field 1358—its content distinguishes which oneof a group of rounding operations to perform (e.g., Round-up,Round-down, Round-towards-zero and Round-to-nearest). Thus, the roundoperation control field 1358 allows for the changing of the roundingmode on a per instruction basis. In one embodiment of the disclosurewhere a processor includes a control register for specifying roundingmodes, the round operation control field's 1350 content overrides thatregister value.

No Memory Access Instruction Templates—Data Transform Type Operation

In the no memory access data transform type operation 1315 instructiontemplate, the beta field 1354 is interpreted as a data transform field1354B, whose content distinguishes which one of a number of datatransforms is to be performed (e.g., no data transform, swizzle,broadcast).

In the case of a memory access 1320 instruction template of class A, thealpha field 1352 is interpreted as an eviction hint field 1352B, whosecontent distinguishes which one of the eviction hints is to be used (inFIG. 13A, temporal 1352B.1 and non-temporal 1352B.2 are respectivelyspecified for the memory access, temporal 1325 instruction template andthe memory access, non-temporal 1330 instruction template), while thebeta field 1354 is interpreted as a data manipulation field 1354C, whosecontent distinguishes which one of a number of data manipulationoperations (also known as primitives) is to be performed (e.g., nomanipulation; broadcast; up conversion of a source; and down conversionof a destination). The memory access 1320 instruction templates includethe scale field 1360, and optionally the displacement field 1362A or thedisplacement factor field 1362B.

Vector memory instructions perform vector loads from and vector storesto memory, with conversion support. As with regular vector instructions,vector memory instructions transfer data from/to memory in a dataelement-wise fashion, with the elements that are actually transferred isdictated by the contents of the vector mask that is selected as thewrite mask.

Memory Access Instruction Templates—Temporal

Temporal data is data likely to be reused soon enough to benefit fromcaching. This is, however, a hint, and different processors mayimplement it in different ways, including ignoring the hint entirely.

Memory Access Instruction Templates—Non-Temporal

Non-temporal data is data unlikely to be reused soon enough to benefitfrom caching in the 1st-level cache and should be given priority foreviction. This is, however, a hint, and different processors mayimplement it in different ways, including ignoring the hint entirely.

Instruction Templates of Class B

In the case of the instruction templates of class B, the alpha field1352 is interpreted as a write mask control (Z) field 1352C, whosecontent distinguishes whether the write masking controlled by the writemask field 1370 should be a merging or a zeroing.

In the case of the non-memory access 1305 instruction templates of classB, part of the beta field 1354 is interpreted as an RL field 1357A,whose content distinguishes which one of the different augmentationoperation types are to be performed (e.g., round 1357A.1 and vectorlength (VSIZE) 1357A.2 are respectively specified for the no memoryaccess, write mask control, partial round control type operation 1312instruction template and the no memory access, write mask control, VSIZEtype operation 1317 instruction template), while the rest of the betafield 1354 distinguishes which of the operations of the specified typeis to be performed. In the no memory access 1305 instruction templates,the scale field 1360, the displacement field 1362A, and the displacementfactor field 1362B are not present.

In the no memory access, write mask control, partial round control typeoperation 1310 instruction template, the rest of the beta field 1354 isinterpreted as a round operation field 1359A and exception eventreporting is disabled (a given instruction does not report any kind offloating-point exception flag and does not raise any floating pointexception handler).

Round operation control field 1359A—just as round operation controlfield 1358, its content distinguishes which one of a group of roundingoperations to perform (e.g., Round-up, Round-down, Round-towards-zeroand Round-to-nearest). Thus, the round operation control field 1359Aallows for the changing of the rounding mode on a per instruction basis.In one embodiment of the disclosure where a processor includes a controlregister for specifying rounding modes, the round operation controlfield's 1350 content overrides that register value.

In the no memory access, write mask control, VSIZE type operation 1317instruction template, the rest of the beta field 1354 is interpreted asa vector length field 1359B, whose content distinguishes which one of anumber of data vector lengths is to be performed on (e.g., 128, 256, or512 byte).

In the case of a memory access 1320 instruction template of class B,part of the beta field 1354 is interpreted as a broadcast field 1357B,whose content distinguishes whether or not the broadcast type datamanipulation operation is to be performed, while the rest of the betafield 1354 is interpreted the vector length field 1359B. The memoryaccess 1320 instruction templates include the scale field 1360, andoptionally the displacement field 1362A or the displacement factor field1362B.

With regard to the generic vector friendly instruction format 1300, afull opcode field 1374 is shown including the format field 1340, thebase operation field 1342, and the data element width field 1364. Whileone embodiment is shown where the full opcode field 1374 includes all ofthese fields, the full opcode field 1374 includes less than all of thesefields in embodiments that do not support all of them. The full opcodefield 1374 provides the operation code (opcode).

The augmentation operation field 1350, the data element width field1364, and the write mask field 1370 allow these features to be specifiedon a per instruction basis in the generic vector friendly instructionformat.

The combination of write mask field and data element width field createtyped instructions in that they allow the mask to be applied based ondifferent data element widths.

The various instruction templates found within class A and class B arebeneficial in different situations. In some embodiments of thedisclosure, different processors or different cores within a processormay support only class A, only class B, or both classes. For instance, ahigh performance general purpose out-of-order core intended forgeneral-purpose computing may support only class B, a core intendedprimarily for graphics and/or scientific (throughput) computing maysupport only class A, and a core intended for both may support both (ofcourse, a core that has some mix of templates and instructions from bothclasses but not all templates and instructions from both classes iswithin the purview of the disclosure). Also, a single processor mayinclude multiple cores, all of which support the same class or in whichdifferent cores support different class. For instance, in a processorwith separate graphics and general purpose cores, one of the graphicscores intended primarily for graphics and/or scientific computing maysupport only class A, while one or more of the general purpose cores maybe high performance general purpose cores with out of order executionand register renaming intended for general-purpose computing thatsupport only class B. Another processor that does not have a separategraphics core, may include one more general purpose in-order orout-of-order cores that support both class A and class B. Of course,features from one class may also be implement in the other class indifferent embodiments of the disclosure. Programs written in a highlevel language would be put (e.g., just in time compiled or staticallycompiled) into an variety of different executable forms, including: 1) aform having only instructions of the class(es) supported by the targetprocessor for execution; or 2) a form having alternative routineswritten using different combinations of the instructions of all classesand having control flow code that selects the routines to execute basedon the instructions supported by the processor which is currentlyexecuting the code.

Exemplary Specific Vector Friendly Instruction Format

FIGS. 14A-D are block diagrams illustrating an exemplary specific vectorfriendly instruction format according to embodiments of the disclosure.FIGS. 14A-D show a specific vector friendly instruction format 1400 thatis specific in the sense that it specifies the location, size,interpretation, and order of the fields, as well as values for some ofthose fields. The specific vector friendly instruction format 1400 maybe used to extend the x86 instruction set, and thus some of the fieldsare similar or the same as those used in the existing x86 instructionset and extension thereof (e.g., AVX). This format remains consistentwith the prefix encoding field, real opcode byte field, MOD R/M field,SIB field, displacement field, and immediate fields of the existing x86instruction set with extensions. The fields from FIGS. 13A-B into whichthe fields from FIGS. 14A-D map are illustrated.

It should be understood that, although embodiments of the disclosure aredescribed with reference to the specific vector friendly instructionformat 1400 in the context of the generic vector friendly instructionformat 1300 for illustrative purposes, the disclosure is not limited tothe specific vector friendly instruction format 1400 except whereclaimed. For example, the generic vector friendly instruction format1300 contemplates a variety of possible sizes for the various fields,while the specific vector friendly instruction format 1400 is shown ashaving fields of specific sizes. By way of specific example, while thedata element width field 1364 is illustrated as a one bit field in thespecific vector friendly instruction format 1400, the disclosure is notso limited (that is, the generic vector friendly instruction format 1300contemplates other sizes of the data element width field 1364).

The generic vector friendly instruction format 1300 includes thefollowing fields listed below in the order illustrated in FIG. 14A.

EVEX Prefix (Bytes 0-3) 1402—is encoded in a four-byte form.

Format Field 1340 (EVEX Byte 0, bits [7:0])—the first byte (EVEX Byte 0)is the format field 1340 and it contains 0x62 (the unique value used fordistinguishing the vector friendly instruction format in one embodimentof the disclosure).

The second-fourth bytes (EVEX Bytes 1-3) include a number of bit fieldsproviding specific capability.

REX field 1405 (EVEX Byte 1, bits [7-5])—consists of a EVEX.R bit field(EVEX Byte 1, bit [7]-R), EVEX.X bit field (EVEX byte 1, bit [6]-X), and1357BEX byte 1, bit[5]-B). The EVEX.R, EVEX.X, and EVEX.B bit fieldsprovide the same functionality as the corresponding VEX bit fields, andare encoded using is complement form, i.e. ZMM0 is encoded as 1111B,ZMM15 is encoded as 0000B. Other fields of the instructions encode thelower three bits of the register indexes as is known in the art (rrr,xxx, and bbb), so that Rrrr, Xxxx, and Bbbb may be formed by addingEVEX.R, EVEX.X, and EVEX.B.

REX′ field 1310—this is the first part of the REX′ field 1310 and is theEVEX.R′ bit field (EVEX Byte 1, bit [4]-R′) that is used to encodeeither the upper 16 or lower 16 of the extended 32 register set. In oneembodiment of the disclosure, this bit, along with others as indicatedbelow, is stored in bit inverted format to distinguish (in thewell-known x86 32-bit mode) from the BOUND instruction, whose realopcode byte is 62, but does not accept in the MOD R/M field (describedbelow) the value of 11 in the MOD field; alternative embodiments of thedisclosure do not store this and the other indicated bits below in theinverted format. A value of 1 is used to encode the lower 16 registers.In other words, R′Rrrr is formed by combining EVEX.R′, EVEX.R, and theother RRR from other fields.

Opcode map field 1415 (EVEX byte 1, bits [3:0]-mmmm)—its content encodesan implied leading opcode byte (0F, 0F 38, or 0F 3).

Data element width field 1364 (EVEX byte 2, bit [7]-W)—is represented bythe notation EVEX.W. EVEX.W is used to define the granularity (size) ofthe datatype (either 32-bit data elements or 64-bit data elements).

EVEX.vvvv 1420 (EVEX Byte 2, bits [6:3]-vvvv)—the role of EVEX.vvvv mayinclude the following: 1) EVEX.vvvv encodes the first source registeroperand, specified in inverted (1s complement) form and is valid forinstructions with 2 or more source operands; 2) EVEX.vvvv encodes thedestination register operand, specified in is complement form forcertain vector shifts; or 3) EVEX.vvvv does not encode any operand, thefield is reserved and should contain 1111b. Thus, EVEX.vvvv field 1420encodes the 4 low-order bits of the first source register specifierstored in inverted (1s complement) form. Depending on the instruction,an extra different EVEX bit field is used to extend the specifier sizeto 32 registers.

EVEX.U 1368 Class field (EVEX byte 2, bit [2]-U)—If EVEX.U=0, itindicates class A or EVEX.U0; if EVEX.U=1, it indicates class B orEVEX.U1.

Prefix encoding field 1425 (EVEX byte 2, bits [1:0]-pp)—providesadditional bits for the base operation field. In addition to providingsupport for the legacy SSE instructions in the EVEX prefix format, thisalso has the benefit of compacting the SIMD prefix (rather thanrequiring a byte to express the SIMD prefix, the EVEX prefix requiresonly 2 bits). In one embodiment, to support legacy SSE instructions thatuse a SIMD prefix (66H, F2H, F3H) in both the legacy format and in theEVEX prefix format, these legacy SIMD prefixes are encoded into the SIMDprefix encoding field; and at runtime are expanded into the legacy SIMDprefix prior to being provided to the decoder's PLA (so the PLA canexecute both the legacy and EVEX format of these legacy instructionswithout modification). Although newer instructions could use the EVEXprefix encoding field's content directly as an opcode extension, certainembodiments expand in a similar fashion for consistency but allow fordifferent meanings to be specified by these legacy SIMD prefixes. Analternative embodiment may redesign the PLA to support the 2 bit SIMDprefix encodings, and thus not require the expansion.

Alpha field 1352 (EVEX byte 3, bit [7]-EH; also known as EVEX.EH,EVEX.rs, EVEX.RL, EVEX.write mask control, and EVEX.N; also illustratedwith α)—as previously described, this field is context specific.

Beta field 1354 (EVEX byte 3, bits [6:4]-SSS, also known as EVEX.s₂₋₀,EVEX.r₂₋₀, EVEX.rr1, EVEX.LL0, EVEX.LLB; also illustrated with βββ)—aspreviously described, this field is context specific.

REX′ field 1310—this is the remainder of the REX′ field and is theEVEX.V′ bit field (EVEX Byte 3, bit [3]-V′) that may be used to encodeeither the upper 16 or lower 16 of the extended 32 register set. Thisbit is stored in bit inverted format. A value of 1 is used to encode thelower 16 registers. In other words, V′VVVV is formed by combiningEVEX.V′, EVEX.vvvv.

Write mask field 1370 (EVEX byte 3, bits [2:0]-kkk)—its contentspecifies the index of a register in the write mask registers aspreviously described. In one embodiment of the disclosure, the specificvalue EVEX.kkk=000 has a special behavior implying no write mask is usedfor the particular instruction (this may be implemented in a variety ofways including the use of a write mask hardwired to all ones or hardwarethat bypasses the masking hardware).

Real Opcode Field 1430 (Byte 4) is also known as the opcode byte. Partof the opcode is specified in this field.

MOD R/M Field 1440 (Byte 5) includes MOD field 1442, Reg field 1444, andR/M field 1446. As previously described, the MOD field's 1442 contentdistinguishes between memory access and non-memory access operations.The role of Reg field 1444 can be summarized to two situations: encodingeither the destination register operand or a source register operand, orbe treated as an opcode extension and not used to encode any instructionoperand. The role of RIM field 1446 may include the following: encodingthe instruction operand that references a memory address, or encodingeither the destination register operand or a source register operand.

Scale, Index, Base (SIB) Byte 1450 (Byte 6)—As previously described, thescale field's 1350 content is used for memory address generation.SIB.xxx 1454 and SIB.bbb 1456—the contents of these fields have beenpreviously referred to with regard to the register indexes Xxxx andBbbb.

Displacement field 1362A (Bytes 7-10)—when MOD field 1442 contains 10,bytes 7-10 are the displacement field 1362A, and it works the same asthe legacy 32-bit displacement (disp32) and works at byte granularity.

Displacement factor field 1362B (Byte 7)—when MOD field 1442 contains01, byte 7 is the displacement factor field 1362B. The location of thisfield is that same as that of the legacy x86 instruction set 8-bitdisplacement (disp8), which works at byte granularity. Since disp8 issign extended, it can only address between −128 and 127 bytes offsets;in terms of 64 byte cache lines, disp8 uses 8 bits that can be set toonly four really useful values −128, −64, 0, and 64; since a greaterrange is often needed, disp32 is used; however, disp32 requires 4 bytes.In contrast to disp8 and disp32, the displacement factor field 1362B isa reinterpretation of disp8; when using displacement factor field 1362B,the actual displacement is determined by the content of the displacementfactor field multiplied by the size of the memory operand access (N).This type of displacement is referred to as disp8*N. This reduces theaverage instruction length (a single byte of used for the displacementbut with a much greater range). Such compressed displacement is based onthe assumption that the effective displacement is multiple of thegranularity of the memory access, and hence, the redundant low-orderbits of the address offset do not need to be encoded. In other words,the displacement factor field 1362B substitutes the legacy x86instruction set 8-bit displacement. Thus, the displacement factor field1362B is encoded the same way as an x86 instruction set 8-bitdisplacement (so no changes in the ModRM/SIB encoding rules) with theonly exception that disp8 is overloaded to disp8*N. In other words,there are no changes in the encoding rules or encoding lengths but onlyin the interpretation of the displacement value by hardware (which needsto scale the displacement by the size of the memory operand to obtain abyte-wise address offset). Immediate field 1372 operates as previouslydescribed.

Full Opcode Field

FIG. 14B is a block diagram illustrating the fields of the specificvector friendly instruction format 1400 that make up the full opcodefield 1374 according to one embodiment of the disclosure. Specifically,the full opcode field 1374 includes the format field 1340, the baseoperation field 1342, and the data element width (W) field 1364. Thebase operation field 1342 includes the prefix encoding field 1425, theopcode map field 1415, and the real opcode field 1430.

Register Index Field

FIG. 14C is a block diagram illustrating the fields of the specificvector friendly instruction format 1400 that make up the register indexfield 1344 according to one embodiment of the disclosure. Specifically,the register index field 1344 includes the REX field 1405, the REX′field 1410, the MODR/M.reg field 1444, the MODR/M.r/m field 1446, theVVVV field 1420, xxx field 1454, and the bbb field 1456.

Augmentation Operation Field

FIG. 14D is a block diagram illustrating the fields of the specificvector friendly instruction format 1400 that make up the augmentationoperation field 1350 according to one embodiment of the disclosure. Whenthe class (U) field 1368 contains 0, it signifies EVEX.U0 (class A1368A); when it contains 1, it signifies EVEX.U1 (class B 1368B). WhenU=0 and the MOD field 1442 contains 11 (signifying a no memory accessoperation), the alpha field 1352 (EVEX byte 3, bit [7]-EH) isinterpreted as the rs field 1352A. When the rs field 1352A contains a 1(round 1352A.1), the beta field 1354 (EVEX byte 3, bits [6:4]-SSS) isinterpreted as the round control field 1354A. The round control field1354A includes a one bit SAE field 1356 and a two bit round operationfield 1358. When the rs field 1352A contains a 0 (data transform1352A.2), the beta field 1354 (EVEX byte 3, bits [6:4]-SSS) isinterpreted as a three bit data transform field 1354B. When U=0 and theMOD field 1442 contains 00, 01, or 10 (signifying a memory accessoperation), the alpha field 1352 (EVEX byte 3, bit [7]-EH) isinterpreted as the eviction hint (EH) field 1352B and the beta field1354 (EVEX byte 3, bits [6:4]-SSS) is interpreted as a three bit datamanipulation field 1354C.

When U=1, the alpha field 1352 (EVEX byte 3, bit [7]-EH) is interpretedas the write mask control (Z) field 1352C. When U=1 and the MOD field1442 contains 11 (signifying a no memory access operation), part of thebeta field 1354 (EVEX byte 3, bit [4]-S₀) is interpreted as the RL field1357A; when it contains a 1 (round 1357A.1) the rest of the beta field1354 (EVEX byte 3, bit [6-5]-S₂₋₁) is interpreted as the round operationfield 1359A, while when the RL field 1357A contains a 0 (VSIZE 1357.A2)the rest of the beta field 1354 (EVEX byte 3, bit [6-5]-S₂₋₁) isinterpreted as the vector length field 1359B (EVEX byte 3, bit[6-5]-L₁₋₀). When U=1 and the MOD field 1442 contains 00, 01, or 10(signifying a memory access operation), the beta field 1354 (EVEX byte3, bits [6:4]-SSS) is interpreted as the vector length field 1359B (EVEXbyte 3, bit [6-5]-L₁₋₀) and the broadcast field 1357B (EVEX byte 3, bit[4]-B).

Exemplary Register Architecture

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a register architecture 1500 according toone embodiment of the disclosure. In the embodiment illustrated, thereare 32 vector registers 1510 that are 512 bits wide; these registers arereferenced as zmm0 through zmm31. The lower order 256 bits of the lower16 zmm registers are overlaid on registers ymm0-16. The lower order 128bits of the lower 16 zmm registers (the lower order 128 bits of the ymmregisters) are overlaid on registers xmm0-15. The specific vectorfriendly instruction format 1400 operates on these overlaid registerfile as illustrated in the below tables.

Adjustable Vector Length Class Operations Registers InstructionTemplates A (FIG. 1310, 1315, zmm registers (the vector length is 64that do not include the 13A; 1325, 1330 byte) vector length field U = 0)1359B B (FIG. 1312 zmm registers (the vector length is 64 13B; byte) U= 1) Instruction templates that B (FIG. 1317, 1327 zmm, ymm, or xmmregisters (the do include the vector 13B; vector length is 64 byte, 32byte, or length field 1359B U = 1) 16 byte) depending on the vectorlength field 1359B

In other words, the vector length field 1359B selects between a maximumlength and one or more other shorter lengths, where each such shorterlength is half the length of the preceding length; and instructionstemplates without the vector length field 1359B operate on the maximumvector length. Further, in one embodiment, the class B instructiontemplates of the specific vector friendly instruction format 1400operate on packed or scalar single/double-precision floating point dataand packed or scalar integer data. Scalar operations are operationsperformed on the lowest order data element position in a zmm/ymm/xmmregister; the higher order data element positions are either left thesame as they were prior to the instruction or zeroed depending on theembodiment.

Write mask registers 1515—in the embodiment illustrated, there are 8write mask registers (k0 through k7), each 64 bits in size. In analternate embodiment, the write mask registers 1515 are 16 bits in size.As previously described, in one embodiment of the disclosure, the vectormask register k0 cannot be used as a write mask; when the encoding thatwould normally indicate k0 is used for a write mask, it selects ahardwired write mask of 0xFFFF, effectively disabling write masking forthat instruction.

General-purpose registers 1525—in the embodiment illustrated, there aresixteen 64-bit general-purpose registers that are used along with theexisting x86 addressing modes to address memory operands. Theseregisters are referenced by the names RAX, RBX, RCX, RDX, RBP, RSI, RDI,RSP, and R8 through R15.

Scalar floating point stack register file (x87 stack) 1545, on which isaliased the MMX packed integer flat register file 1550—in the embodimentillustrated, the x87 stack is an eight-element stack used to performscalar floating-point operations on 32/64/80-bit floating point datausing the x87 instruction set extension; while the MMX registers areused to perform operations on 64-bit packed integer data, as well as tohold operands for some operations performed between the MMX and XMMregisters.

Alternative embodiments of the disclosure may use wider or narrowerregisters. Additionally, alternative embodiments of the disclosure mayuse more, less, or different register files and registers.

Exemplary Core Architectures, Processors, and Computer Architectures

Processor cores may be implemented in different ways, for differentpurposes, and in different processors. For instance, implementations ofsuch cores may include: 1) a general purpose in-order core intended forgeneral-purpose computing; 2) a high performance general purposeout-of-order core intended for general-purpose computing; 3) a specialpurpose core intended primarily for graphics and/or scientific(throughput) computing. Implementations of different processors mayinclude: 1) a CPU including one or more general purpose in-order coresintended for general-purpose computing and/or one or more generalpurpose out-of-order cores intended for general-purpose computing; and2) a coprocessor including one or more special purpose cores intendedprimarily for graphics and/or scientific (throughput). Such differentprocessors lead to different computer system architectures, which mayinclude: 1) the coprocessor on a separate chip from the CPU; 2) thecoprocessor on a separate die in the same package as a CPU; 3) thecoprocessor on the same die as a CPU (in which case, such a coprocessoris sometimes referred to as special purpose logic, such as integratedgraphics and/or scientific (throughput) logic, or as special purposecores); and 4) a system on a chip that may include on the same die thedescribed CPU (sometimes referred to as the application core(s) orapplication processor(s)), the above described coprocessor, andadditional functionality. Exemplary core architectures are describednext, followed by descriptions of exemplary processors and computerarchitectures.

Exemplary Core Architectures In-Order and Out-of-Order Core BlockDiagram

FIG. 16A is a block diagram illustrating both an exemplary in-orderpipeline and an exemplary register renaming, out-of-orderissue/execution pipeline according to embodiments of the disclosure.FIG. 16B is a block diagram illustrating both an exemplary embodiment ofan in-order architecture core and an exemplary register renaming,out-of-order issue/execution architecture core to be included in aprocessor according to embodiments of the disclosure. The solid linedboxes in FIGS. 16A-B illustrate the in-order pipeline and in-order core,while the optional addition of the dashed lined boxes illustrates theregister renaming, out-of-order issue/execution pipeline and core. Giventhat the in-order aspect is a subset of the out-of-order aspect, theout-of-order aspect will be described.

In FIG. 16A, a processor pipeline 1600 includes a fetch stage 1602, alength decode stage 1604, a decode stage 1606, an allocation stage 1608,a renaming stage 1610, a scheduling (also known as a dispatch or issue)stage 1612, a register read/memory read stage 1614, an execute stage1616, a write back/memory write stage 1618, an exception handling stage1622, and a commit stage 1624.

FIG. 16B shows processor core 1690 including a front end unit 1630coupled to an execution engine unit 1650, and both are coupled to amemory unit 1670. The core 1690 may be a reduced instruction setcomputing (RISC) core, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) core,a very long instruction word (VLIW) core, or a hybrid or alternativecore type. As yet another option, the core 1690 may be a special-purposecore, such as, for example, a network or communication core, compressionengine, coprocessor core, general purpose computing graphics processingunit (GPGPU) core, graphics core, or the like.

The front end unit 1630 includes a branch prediction unit 1632 coupledto an instruction cache unit 1634, which is coupled to an instructiontranslation lookaside buffer (TLB) 1636, which is coupled to aninstruction fetch unit 1638, which is coupled to a decode unit 1640. Thedecode unit 1640 (or decoder or decoder unit) may decode instructions(e.g., macro-instructions), and generate as an output one or moremicro-operations, micro-code entry points, micro-instructions, otherinstructions, or other control signals, which are decoded from, or whichotherwise reflect, or are derived from, the original instructions. Thedecode unit 1640 may be implemented using various different mechanisms.Examples of suitable mechanisms include, but are not limited to, look-uptables, hardware implementations, programmable logic arrays (PLAs),microcode read only memories (ROMs), etc. In one embodiment, the core1690 includes a microcode ROM or other medium that stores microcode forcertain macro-instructions (e.g., in decode unit 1640 or otherwisewithin the front end unit 1630). The decode unit 1640 is coupled to arename/allocator unit 1652 in the execution engine unit 1650.

The execution engine unit 1650 includes the rename/allocator unit 1652coupled to a retirement unit 1654 and a set of one or more schedulerunit(s) 1656. The scheduler unit(s) 1656 represents any number ofdifferent schedulers, including reservations stations, centralinstruction window, etc. The scheduler unit(s) 1656 is coupled to thephysical register file unit(s) 1658. Each of the physical register fileunit(s) 1658 represents one or more physical register files, differentones of which store one or more different data types, such as scalarinteger, scalar floating point, packed integer, packed floating point,vector integer, vector floating point, status (e.g., an instructionpointer that is the address of the next instruction to be executed),etc. In one embodiment, the physical register file unit(s) 1658comprises a vector registers unit, a write mask registers unit, and ascalar registers unit. These register units may provide architecturalvector registers, vector mask registers, and general purpose registers.The physical register file unit(s) 1658 is overlapped by the retirementunit 1654 to illustrate various ways in which register renaming andout-of-order execution may be implemented (e.g., using a reorderbuffer(s) and a retirement register file(s); using a future file(s), ahistory buffer(s), and a retirement register file(s); using a registermaps and a pool of registers; etc.). The retirement unit 1654 and thephysical register file unit(s) 1658 are coupled to the executioncluster(s) 1660. The execution cluster(s) 1660 includes a set of one ormore execution units 1662 and a set of one or more memory access units1664. The execution units 1662 may perform various operations (e.g.,shifts, addition, subtraction, multiplication) and on various types ofdata (e.g., scalar floating point, packed integer, packed floatingpoint, vector integer, vector floating point). While some embodimentsmay include a number of execution units dedicated to specific functionsor sets of functions, other embodiments may include only one executionunit or multiple execution units that all perform all functions. Thescheduler unit(s) 1656, physical register file unit(s) 1658, andexecution cluster(s) 1660 are shown as being possibly plural becausecertain embodiments create separate pipelines for certain types ofdata/operations (e.g., a scalar integer pipeline, a scalar floatingpoint/packed integer/packed floating point/vector integer/vectorfloating point pipeline, and/or a memory access pipeline that each havetheir own scheduler unit, physical register file unit(s), and/orexecution cluster—and in the case of a separate memory access pipeline,certain embodiments are implemented in which only the execution clusterof this pipeline has the memory access unit(s) 1664). It should also beunderstood that where separate pipelines are used, one or more of thesepipelines may be out-of-order issue/execution and the rest in-order.

The set of memory access units 1664 is coupled to the memory unit 1670,which includes a data TLB unit 1672 coupled to a data cache unit 1674coupled to a level 2 (L2) cache unit 1676. In one exemplary embodiment,the memory access units 1664 may include a load unit, a store addressunit, and a store data unit, each of which is coupled to the data TLBunit 1672 in the memory unit 1670. The instruction cache unit 1634 isfurther coupled to a level 2 (L2) cache unit 1676 in the memory unit1670. The L2 cache unit 1676 is coupled to one or more other levels ofcache and eventually to a main memory.

By way of example, the exemplary register renaming, out-of-orderissue/execution core architecture may implement the pipeline 1600 asfollows: 1) the instruction fetch 1638 performs the fetch and lengthdecoding stages 1602 and 1604; 2) the decode unit 1640 performs thedecode stage 1606; 3) the rename/allocator unit 1652 performs theallocation stage 1608 and renaming stage 1610; 4) the scheduler unit(s)1656 performs the schedule stage 1612; 5) the physical register file(s)unit(s) 1658 and the memory unit 1670 perform the register read/memoryread stage 1614; the execution cluster 1660 perform the execute stage1616; 6) the memory unit 1670 and the physical register file(s) unit(s)1658 perform the write back/memory write stage 1618; 7) various unitsmay be involved in the exception handling stage 1622; and 8) theretirement unit 1654 and the physical register file(s) unit(s) 1658perform the commit stage 1624.

The core 1690 may support one or more instructions sets (e.g., the x86instruction set (with some extensions that have been added with newerversions); the MIPS instruction set of MIPS Technologies of Sunnyvale,Calif.; the ARM instruction set (with optional additional extensionssuch as NEON) of ARM Holdings of Sunnyvale, Calif.), including theinstruction(s) described herein. In one embodiment, the core 1690includes logic to support a packed data instruction set extension (e.g.,AVX1, AVX2), thereby allowing the operations used by many multimediaapplications to be performed using packed data.

It should be understood that the core may support multithreading(executing two or more parallel sets of operations or threads), and maydo so in a variety of ways including time sliced multithreading,simultaneous multithreading (where a single physical core provides alogical core for each of the threads that physical core issimultaneously multithreading), or a combination thereof (e.g., timesliced fetching and decoding and simultaneous multithreading thereaftersuch as in the Intel® Hyper-Threading technology).

While register renaming is described in the context of out-of-orderexecution, it should be understood that register renaming may be used inan in-order architecture. While the illustrated embodiment of theprocessor also includes separate instruction and data cache units1634/1674 and a shared L2 cache unit 1676, alternative embodiments mayhave a single internal cache for both instructions and data, such as,for example, a Level 1 (L1) internal cache, or multiple levels ofinternal cache. In some embodiments, the system may include acombination of an internal cache and an external cache that is externalto the core and/or the processor. Alternatively, all of the cache may beexternal to the core and/or the processor.

Specific Exemplary In-Order Core Architecture

FIGS. 17A-B illustrate a block diagram of a more specific exemplaryin-order core architecture, which core would be one of several logicblocks (including other cores of the same type and/or different types)in a chip. The logic blocks communicate through a high-bandwidthinterconnect network (e.g., a ring network) with some fixed functionlogic, memory I/O interfaces, and other necessary I/O logic, dependingon the application.

FIG. 17A is a block diagram of a single processor core, along with itsconnection to the on-die interconnect network 1702 and with its localsubset of the Level 2 (L2) cache 1704, according to embodiments of thedisclosure. In one embodiment, an instruction decode unit 1700 supportsthe x86 instruction set with a packed data instruction set extension. AnL1 cache 1706 allows low-latency accesses to cache memory into thescalar and vector units. While in one embodiment (to simplify thedesign), a scalar unit 1708 and a vector unit 1710 use separate registersets (respectively, scalar registers 1712 and vector registers 1714) anddata transferred between them is written to memory and then read back infrom a level 1 (L1) cache 1706, alternative embodiments of thedisclosure may use a different approach (e.g., use a single register setor include a communication path that allow data to be transferredbetween the two register files without being written and read back).

The local subset of the L2 cache 1704 is part of a global L2 cache thatis divided into separate local subsets, one per processor core. Eachprocessor core has a direct access path to its own local subset of theL2 cache 1704. Data read by a processor core is stored in its L2 cachesubset 1704 and can be accessed quickly, in parallel with otherprocessor cores accessing their own local L2 cache subsets. Data writtenby a processor core is stored in its own L2 cache subset 1704 and isflushed from other subsets, if necessary. The ring network ensurescoherency for shared data. The ring network is bi-directional to allowagents such as processor cores, L2 caches and other logic blocks tocommunicate with each other within the chip. Each ring data-path is1012-bits wide per direction.

FIG. 17B is an expanded view of part of the processor core in FIG. 17Aaccording to embodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 17B includes an L1 datacache 1706A part of the L1 cache 1704, as well as more detail regardingthe vector unit 1710 and the vector registers 1714. Specifically, thevector unit 1710 is a 16-wide vector processing unit (VPU) (see the16-wide ALU 1728), which executes one or more of integer,single-precision float, and double-precision float instructions. The VPUsupports swizzling the register inputs with swizzle unit 1720, numericconversion with numeric convert units 1722A-B, and replication withreplication unit 1724 on the memory input. Write mask registers 1726allow predicating resulting vector writes.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a processor 1800 that may have more thanone core, may have an integrated memory controller, and may haveintegrated graphics according to embodiments of the disclosure. Thesolid lined boxes in FIG. 18 illustrate a processor 1800 with a singlecore 1802A, a system agent 1810, a set of one or more bus controllerunits 1816, while the optional addition of the dashed lined boxesillustrates an alternative processor 1800 with multiple cores 1802A-N, aset of one or more integrated memory controller unit(s) 1814 in thesystem agent unit 1810, and special purpose logic 1808.

Thus, different implementations of the processor 1800 may include: 1) aCPU with the special purpose logic 1808 being integrated graphics and/orscientific (throughput) logic (which may include one or more cores), andthe cores 1802A-N being one or more general purpose cores (e.g., generalpurpose in-order cores, general purpose out-of-order cores, acombination of the two); 2) a coprocessor with the cores 1802A-N being alarge number of special purpose cores intended primarily for graphicsand/or scientific (throughput); and 3) a coprocessor with the cores1802A-N being a large number of general purpose in-order cores. Thus,the processor 1800 may be a general-purpose processor, coprocessor orspecial-purpose processor, such as, for example, a network orcommunication processor, compression engine, graphics processor, GPGPU(general purpose graphics processing unit), a high-throughput manyintegrated core (MIC) coprocessor (including 30 or more cores), embeddedprocessor, or the like. The processor may be implemented on one or morechips. The processor 1800 may be a part of and/or may be implemented onone or more substrates using any of a number of process technologies,such as, for example, BiCMOS, CMOS, or NMOS.

The memory hierarchy includes one or more levels of cache unit(s)1804A-N within the cores, a set or one or more shared cache units 1806,and external memory (not shown) coupled to the set of integrated memorycontroller units 1814. The set of shared cache units 1806 may includeone or more mid-level caches, such as level 2 (L2), level 3 (L3), level4 (L4), or other levels of cache, a last level cache (LLC), and/orcombinations thereof. While in one embodiment a ring based interconnectunit 1812 interconnects the integrated graphics logic 1808, the set ofshared cache units 1806, and the system agent unit 1810/integratedmemory controller unit(s) 1814, alternative embodiments may use anynumber of well-known techniques for interconnecting such units. In oneembodiment, coherency is maintained between one or more cache units 1806and cores 1802A-N.

In some embodiments, one or more of the cores 1802A-N are capable ofmulti-threading. The system agent 1810 includes those componentscoordinating and operating cores 1802A-N. The system agent unit 1810 mayinclude for example a power control unit (PCU) and a display unit. ThePCU may be or include logic and components needed for regulating thepower state of the cores 1802A-N and the integrated graphics logic 1808.The display unit is for driving one or more externally connecteddisplays.

The cores 1802A-N may be homogenous or heterogeneous in terms ofarchitecture instruction set; that is, two or more of the cores 1802A-Nmay be capable of execution the same instruction set, while others maybe capable of executing only a subset of that instruction set or adifferent instruction set.

Exemplary Computer Architectures

FIGS. 19-22 are block diagrams of exemplary computer architectures.Other system designs and configurations known in the arts for laptops,desktops, handheld PCs, personal digital assistants, engineeringworkstations, servers, network devices, network hubs, switches, embeddedprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), graphics devices, videogame devices, set-top boxes, micro controllers, cell phones, portablemedia players, hand held devices, and various other electronic devices,are also suitable. In general, a huge variety of systems or electronicdevices capable of incorporating a processor and/or other executionlogic as disclosed herein are generally suitable.

Referring now to FIG. 19, shown is a block diagram of a system 1900 inaccordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. The system1900 may include one or more processors 1910, 1915, which are coupled toa controller hub 1920. In one embodiment the controller hub 1920includes a graphics memory controller hub (GMCH) 1990 and anInput/Output Hub (IOH) 1950 (which may be on separate chips); the GMCH1990 includes memory and graphics controllers to which are coupledmemory 1940 and a coprocessor 1945; the IOH 1950 is couples input/output(I/O) devices 1960 to the GMCH 1990. Alternatively, one or both of thememory and graphics controllers are integrated within the processor (asdescribed herein), the memory 1940 and the coprocessor 1945 are coupleddirectly to the processor 1910, and the controller hub 1920 in a singlechip with the IOH 1950. Memory 1940 may include a patching module 1940A,for example, to store code that when executed causes a processor toperform any method of this disclosure.

The optional nature of additional processors 1915 is denoted in FIG. 19with broken lines. Each processor 1910, 1915 may include one or more ofthe processing cores described herein and may be some version of theprocessor 1800.

The memory 1940 may be, for example, dynamic random access memory(DRAM), phase change memory (PCM), or a combination of the two. For atleast one embodiment, the controller hub 1920 communicates with theprocessor(s) 1910, 1915 via a multi-drop bus, such as a frontside bus(FSB), point-to-point interface such as Quickpath Interconnect (QPI), orsimilar connection 1995.

In one embodiment, the coprocessor 1945 is a special-purpose processor,such as, for example, a high-throughput MIC processor, a network orcommunication processor, compression engine, graphics processor, GPGPU,embedded processor, or the like. In one embodiment, controller hub 1920may include an integrated graphics accelerator.

There can be a variety of differences between the physical resources1910, 1915 in terms of a spectrum of metrics of merit includingarchitectural, microarchitectural, thermal, power consumptioncharacteristics, and the like.

In one embodiment, the processor 1910 executes instructions that controldata processing operations of a general type. Embedded within theinstructions may be coprocessor instructions. The processor 1910recognizes these coprocessor instructions as being of a type that shouldbe executed by the attached coprocessor 1945. Accordingly, the processor1910 issues these coprocessor instructions (or control signalsrepresenting coprocessor instructions) on a coprocessor bus or otherinterconnect, to coprocessor 1945. Coprocessor(s) 1945 accept andexecute the received coprocessor instructions.

Referring now to FIG. 20, shown is a block diagram of a first morespecific exemplary system 2000 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. As shown in FIG. 20, multiprocessor system 2000 is apoint-to-point interconnect system, and includes a first processor 2070and a second processor 2080 coupled via a point-to-point interconnect2050. Each of processors 2070 and 2080 may be some version of theprocessor 1800. In one embodiment of the disclosure, processors 2070 and2080 are respectively processors 1910 and 1915, while coprocessor 2038is coprocessor 1945. In another embodiment, processors 2070 and 2080 arerespectively processor 1910 coprocessor 1945.

Processors 2070 and 2080 are shown including integrated memorycontroller (IMC) units 2072 and 2082, respectively. Processor 2070 alsoincludes as part of its bus controller units point-to-point (P-P)interfaces 2076 and 2078; similarly, second processor 2080 includes P-Pinterfaces 2086 and 2088. Processors 2070, 2080 may exchange informationvia a point-to-point (P-P) interface 2050 using P-P interface circuits2078, 2088. As shown in FIG. 20, IMCs 2072 and 2082 couple theprocessors to respective memories, namely a memory 2032 and a memory2034, which may be portions of main memory locally attached to therespective processors.

Processors 2070, 2080 may each exchange information with a chipset 2090via individual P-P interfaces 2052, 2054 using point to point interfacecircuits 2076, 2094, 2086, 2098. Chipset 2090 may optionally exchangeinformation with the coprocessor 2038 via a high-performance interface2039. In one embodiment, the coprocessor 2038 is a special-purposeprocessor, such as, for example, a high-throughput MIC processor, anetwork or communication processor, compression engine, graphicsprocessor, GPGPU, embedded processor, or the like.

A shared cache (not shown) may be included in either processor oroutside of both processors, yet connected with the processors via P-Pinterconnect, such that either or both processors' local cacheinformation may be stored in the shared cache if a processor is placedinto a low power mode.

Chipset 2090 may be coupled to a first bus 2016 via an interface 2096.In one embodiment, first bus 2016 may be a Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus, or a bus such as a PCI Express bus or anotherthird generation I/O interconnect bus, although the scope of the presentdisclosure is not so limited.

As shown in FIG. 20, various I/O devices 2014 may be coupled to firstbus 2016, along with a bus bridge 2018 which couples first bus 2016 to asecond bus 2020. In one embodiment, one or more additional processor(s)2015, such as coprocessors, high-throughput MIC processors, GPGPU's,accelerators (such as, e.g., graphics accelerators or digital signalprocessing (DSP) units), field programmable gate arrays, or any otherprocessor, are coupled to first bus 2016. In one embodiment, second bus2020 may be a low pin count (LPC) bus. Various devices may be coupled toa second bus 2020 including, for example, a keyboard and/or mouse 2022,communication devices 2027 and a storage unit 2028 such as a disk driveor other mass storage device which may include instructions/code anddata 2030, in one embodiment. Further, an audio I/O 2024 may be coupledto the second bus 2020. Note that other architectures are possible. Forexample, instead of the point-to-point architecture of FIG. 20, a systemmay implement a multi-drop bus or other such architecture.

Referring now to FIG. 21, shown is a block diagram of a second morespecific exemplary system 2100 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. Like elements in FIGS. 20 and 21 bear like referencenumerals, and certain aspects of FIG. 20 have been omitted from FIG. 21in order to avoid obscuring other aspects of FIG. 21.

FIG. 21 illustrates that the processors 2070, 2080 may includeintegrated memory and I/O control logic (“CL”) 2172 and 2182,respectively. Thus, the CL 2172, 2182 include integrated memorycontroller units and include I/O control logic. FIG. 21 illustrates thatnot only are the memories 2032, 2034 coupled to the CL 2172, 2182, butalso that I/O devices 2114 are also coupled to the control logic 2172,2182. Legacy I/O devices 2115 are coupled to the chipset 2090.

Referring now to FIG. 22, shown is a block diagram of a SoC 2200 inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Similarelements in FIG. 18 bear like reference numerals. Also, dashed linedboxes are optional features on more advanced SoCs. In FIG. 22, aninterconnect unit(s) 2202 is coupled to: an application processor 1800which includes a set of one or more cores 1802A-N and shared cacheunit(s) 1806; a system agent unit 1810; a bus controller unit(s) 1816;an integrated memory controller unit(s) 1814; a set or one or morecoprocessors 2220 which may include integrated graphics logic, an imageprocessor, an audio processor, and a video processor; an static randomaccess memory (SRAM) unit 2230; a direct memory access (DMA) unit 2232;and a display unit 2240 for coupling to one or more external displays.In one embodiment, the coprocessor(s) 2220 include a special-purposeprocessor, such as, for example, a network or communication processor,compression engine, GPGPU, a high-throughput MIC processor, embeddedprocessor, or the like.

Embodiments (e.g., of the mechanisms) disclosed herein may beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination of suchimplementation approaches. Embodiments of the disclosure may beimplemented as computer programs or program code executing onprogrammable systems comprising at least one processor, a storage system(including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), atleast one input device, and at least one output device.

Program code, such as code 2030 illustrated in FIG. 20, may be appliedto input instructions to perform the functions described herein andgenerate output information. The output information may be applied toone or more output devices, in known fashion. For purposes of thisapplication, a processing system includes any system that has aprocessor, such as, for example; a digital signal processor (DSP), amicrocontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or amicroprocessor.

The program code may be implemented in a high level procedural or objectoriented programming language to communicate with a processing system.The program code may also be implemented in assembly or machinelanguage, if desired. In fact, the mechanisms described herein are notlimited in scope to any particular programming language. In any case,the language may be a compiled or interpreted language.

One or more aspects of at least one embodiment may be implemented byrepresentative instructions stored on a machine-readable medium whichrepresents various logic within the processor, which when read by amachine causes the machine to fabricate logic to perform the techniquesdescribed herein. Such representations, known as “IP cores” may bestored on a tangible, machine readable medium and supplied to variouscustomers or manufacturing facilities to load into the fabricationmachines that actually make the logic or processor.

Such machine-readable storage media may include, without limitation,non-transitory, tangible arrangements of articles manufactured or formedby a machine or device, including storage media such as hard disks, anyother type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, compact diskread-only memories (CD-ROMs), compact disk rewritables (CD-RWs), andmagneto-optical disks, semiconductor devices such as read-only memories(ROMs), random access memories (RAMs) such as dynamic random accessmemories (DRAMs), static random access memories (SRAMs), erasableprogrammable read-only memories (EPROMs), flash memories, electricallyerasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), phase change memory(PCM), magnetic or optical cards, or any other type of media suitablefor storing electronic instructions.

Accordingly, embodiments of the disclosure also include non-transitory,tangible machine-readable media containing instructions or containingdesign data, such as Hardware Description Language (HDL), which definesstructures, circuits, apparatuses, processors and/or system featuresdescribed herein. Such embodiments may also be referred to as programproducts.

Emulation (Including Binary Translation, Code Morphing, Etc.)

In some cases, an instruction converter may be used to convert aninstruction from a source instruction set to a target instruction set.For example, the instruction converter may translate (e.g., using staticbinary translation, dynamic binary translation including dynamiccompilation), morph, emulate, or otherwise convert an instruction to oneor more other instructions to be processed by the core. The instructionconverter may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or acombination thereof. The instruction converter may be on processor, offprocessor, or part on and part off processor.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram contrasting the use of a software instructionconverter to convert binary instructions in a source instruction set tobinary instructions in a target instruction set according to embodimentsof the disclosure. In the illustrated embodiment, the instructionconverter is a software instruction converter, although alternativelythe instruction converter may be implemented in software, firmware,hardware, or various combinations thereof. FIG. 23 shows a program in ahigh level language 2302 may be compiled using an x86 compiler 2304 togenerate x86 binary code 2306 that may be natively executed by aprocessor with at least one x86 instruction set core 2316. The processorwith at least one x86 instruction set core 2316 represents any processorthat can perform substantially the same functions as an Intel® processorwith at least one x86 instruction set core by compatibly executing orotherwise processing (1) a substantial portion of the instruction set ofthe Intel® x86 instruction set core or (2) object code versions ofapplications or other software targeted to run on an Intel® processorwith at least one x86 instruction set core, in order to achievesubstantially the same result as an Intel® processor with at least onex86 instruction set core. The x86 compiler 2304 represents a compilerthat is operable to generate x86 binary code 2306 (e.g., object code)that can, with or without additional linkage processing, be executed onthe processor with at least one x86 instruction set core 2316.Similarly, FIG. 23 shows the program in the high level language 2302 maybe compiled using an alternative instruction set compiler 2308 togenerate alternative instruction set binary code 2310 that may benatively executed by a processor without at least one x86 instructionset core 2314 (e.g., a processor with cores that execute the MIPSinstruction set of MIPS Technologies of Sunnyvale, Calif. and/or thatexecute the ARM instruction set of ARM Holdings of Sunnyvale, Calif.).The instruction converter 2312 is used to convert the x86 binary code2306 into code that may be natively executed by the processor without anx86 instruction set core 2314. This converted code is not likely to bethe same as the alternative instruction set binary code 2310 because aninstruction converter capable of this is difficult to make; however, theconverted code will accomplish the general operation and be made up ofinstructions from the alternative instruction set. Thus, the instructionconverter 2312 represents software, firmware, hardware, or a combinationthereof that, through emulation, simulation or any other process, allowsa processor or other electronic device that does not have an x86instruction set processor or core to execute the x86 binary code 2306.

What is claimed is:
 1. A processor comprising: an execution circuit toexecute micro-operations; a cache; and a microcode sequencer circuitcomprising a patch memory, wherein the microcode sequencer circuit isto: determine that an instruction requested for execution is to bepatched, cause, in response to the determination that the instructionrequested for execution is to be patched, execution of patch code by theexecution circuit to load a patch set of at least one micro-operationfor the instruction that is to be patched into the patch memory from thecache, and cause execution of the patch set of at least onemicro-operation for the instruction from the patch memory by theexecution circuit.
 2. The processor of claim 1, wherein the cachecomprises a section to store context information from a core comprisingthe execution circuit when the core is transitioned to a power statethat shuts off voltage to the core but does not shut down the cache. 3.The processor of claim 2, wherein the power state is a C6 power stateaccording to an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)standard.
 4. The processor of claim 2, wherein the patch set of at leastone micro-operation for the instruction is to be loaded into the patchmemory from a previously unused section of the cache separate from thesection of the cache to store context information.
 5. The processor ofclaim 2, wherein the patch set of at least one micro-operation for theinstruction is to be loaded into the patch memory from the section ofthe cache to store context information, and the microcode sequencercircuit is to cause execution of code by the execution circuit to loadthe patch set of at least one micro-operation from a system memorycoupled to the processor into the section of the cache.
 6. The processorof claim 1, wherein the cache is not user accessible.
 7. The processorof claim 1, wherein the microcode sequencer circuit is to cause theexecution of the patch code from the patch memory.
 8. The processor ofclaim 1, wherein firmware, in non-transitory storage coupled to theprocessor, comprises an instruction that when decoded and executed bythe processor is to cause the processor to store the patch set of atleast one micro-operation into the cache.
 9. The processor of claim 1,wherein, when the patch set of at least one micro-operation loaded intothe patch memory overwrites at least one of a plurality ofmicro-operations stored in the patch memory, the microcode sequencercircuit is to reload the at least one of the plurality ofmicro-operations that was overwritten after execution of the patch setof at least one micro-operation is complete.
 10. The processor of claim1, wherein the microcode sequencer circuit is to cause, in response to arequest for execution of a second instruction, a second patch set of atleast one micro-operation, different than the patch set, to be loadedinto the patch memory from the cache, and execution of the second patchset of at least one micro-operation for the second instruction from thepatch memory by the execution circuit.
 11. A method comprising:receiving a request to execute an instruction with a processor;determining, by a microcode sequencer circuit of the processor, that theinstruction requested for execution is to be patched; causing, by themicrocode sequencer circuit of the processor in response to thedetermining that the instruction requested for execution is to bepatched, execution of patch code to load a patch set of at least onemicro-operation for the instruction that is to be patched into a patchmemory of the microcode sequencer circuit from a cache of the processor;sending, by the microcode sequencer circuit of the processor, the patchset of at least one micro-operation from the patch memory to anexecution circuit of the processor; and executing the patch set of atleast one micro-operation for the instruction with the execution circuitof the processor.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method furthercomprises storing context information from a core comprising theexecution circuit in a section of the cache when the core istransitioned to a power state that shuts off voltage to the core butdoes not shut down the cache.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein thepower state is a C6 power state according to an Advanced Configurationand Power Interface (ACPI) standard.
 14. The method of claim 12, whereinthe load of the patch set comprises loading the patch set of at leastone micro-operation for the instruction into the patch memory of themicrocode sequencer circuit from a previously unused section of thecache separate from the section of the cache to store contextinformation.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein the load of the patchset comprises loading the patch set of at least one micro-operation forthe instruction into the patch memory of the microcode sequencer circuitfrom the section of the cache to store context information.
 16. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the cache is not user accessible.
 17. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises storing thepatch code into the patch memory, and the causing execution comprisessending the patch code from the patch memory to the execution circuit.18. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises storingfirmware including an instruction in non-transitory storage coupled tothe processor, and executing the instruction from the firmware by theprocessor to cause storing of the patch set of at least onemicro-operation into the cache.
 19. The method of claim 11, wherein,when the load of the patch set of at least one micro-operation into thepatch memory overwrites at least one of a plurality of micro-operationsstored in the patch memory, the method further comprises reloading, bythe microcode sequencer circuit, the at least one of the plurality ofmicro-operations that was overwritten after execution of the patch setof at least one micro-operation is complete.
 20. The method of claim 11,wherein the method further comprises: receiving a request to execute asecond instruction with the processor; determining, by the microcodesequencer circuit of the processor, that the second instructionrequested for execution is to be patched; causing, by the microcodesequencer circuit of the processor in response to the determining thatthe second instruction requested for execution is to be patched,execution of the patch code to load a second patch set of at least onemicro-operation for the second instruction that is to be patched intothe patch memory of the microcode sequencer circuit from the cache;sending, by the microcode sequencer circuit of the processor, the secondpatch set of at least one micro-operation from the patch memory to theexecution circuit of the processor; and executing the second patch setof at least one micro-operation for the second instruction with theexecution circuit of the processor.
 21. A non-transitory machinereadable medium that stores code that when executed by a machine causesthe machine to perform a method comprising: receiving a request toexecute an instruction with a processor; determining, by a microcodesequencer circuit of the processor, that the instruction requested forexecution is to be patched; causing, by the microcode sequencer circuitof the processor in response to the determining that the instructionrequested for execution is to be patched, execution of patch code toload a patch set of at least one micro-operation for the instructionthat is to be patched into a patch memory of the microcode sequencercircuit from a cache of the processor; sending, by the microcodesequencer circuit of the processor, the patch set of at least onemicro-operation from the patch memory to an execution circuit of theprocessor; and executing the patch set of at least one micro-operationfor the instruction with the execution circuit of the processor.
 22. Thenon-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the methodfurther comprises storing context information from a core comprising theexecution circuit in a section of the cache when the core istransitioned to a power state that shuts off voltage to the core butdoes not shut down the cache.
 23. The non-transitory machine readablemedium of claim 22, wherein the power state is a C6 power stateaccording to an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)standard.
 24. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 22,wherein the load of the patch set comprises loading the patch set of atleast one micro-operation for the instruction into the patch memory ofthe microcode sequencer circuit from a previously unused section of thecache separate from the section of the cache to store contextinformation.
 25. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 22,wherein the load of the patch set comprises loading the patch set of atleast one micro-operation for the instruction into the patch memory ofthe microcode sequencer circuit from the section of the cache to storecontext information.
 26. The non-transitory machine readable medium ofclaim 21, wherein the cache is not user accessible.
 27. Thenon-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21, wherein the methodfurther comprises storing the patch code into the patch memory, and thecausing execution comprises sending the patch code from the patch memoryto the execution circuit.
 28. The non-transitory machine readable mediumof claim 21, wherein the method further comprises storing firmwareincluding an instruction in non-transitory storage coupled to theprocessor, and executing the instruction from the firmware by theprocessor to cause storing of the patch set of at least onemicro-operation into the cache.
 29. The non-transitory machine readablemedium of claim 21, wherein, when the load of the patch set of at leastone micro-operation into the patch memory overwrites at least one of aplurality of micro-operations stored in the patch memory, the methodfurther comprises reloading, by the microcode sequencer circuit, the atleast one of the plurality of micro-operations that was overwrittenafter execution of the patch set of at least one micro-operation iscomplete.
 30. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 21,wherein the method further comprises: receiving a request to execute asecond instruction with the processor; determining, by the microcodesequencer circuit of the processor, that the second instructionrequested for execution is to be patched; causing, by the microcodesequencer circuit of the processor in response to the determining thatthe second instruction requested for execution is to be patched,execution of the patch code to load a second patch set of at least onemicro-operation for the second instruction that is to be patched intothe patch memory of the microcode sequencer circuit from the cache;sending, by the microcode sequencer circuit of the processor, the secondpatch set of at least one micro-operation from the patch memory to theexecution circuit of the processor; and executing the second patch setof at least one micro-operation for the second instruction with theexecution circuit of the processor.